Volume 12 Number 3                                                                                                          MARCH 1999

Texas was divided into two areas when it came to temperature for the month of March. Areas in South and extreme West Texas were barely above normal in their daily mean temperatures while areas in the Panhandle and North Texas experienced slightly below temperatures. The range of temperature departures from normal throughout the state was quite small however, with all first-order stations falling between -1.2°F and 2.9°F for their respective departures. El Paso was the only station to receive below normal precipitation for the month. The 18 other first-order stations throughout Texas all received more precipitation for March than is normally expected.

The first few days of March saw extremely warm temperatures across Texas. The high temperature reached 93°F in Del Rio on the 1^st, while Corpus Christi shattered the record high temperature on the 2^nd when the mercury rose to an unbearable 98°F. From the 7^th to the 13^th mostly dry weather persisted across extreme Southern and Western Texas. The 8^th however did see strong storms over the eastern half of the Lone Star state. Dallas and Fort Worth were just two of the many areas that experienced flooding as the storms passed over the region.

Two squall lines also passed over Central and Eastern Texas on the 12^th and 19^th. As the storms went by there were numerous reports of hail and wind damage along with reports of possible tornadoes in the affected counties. Little or no rain fell, however, across extreme southern Texas, where spring planting was being delayed because of the excessive dryness.

Finally as March drew to a close, the much-needed rain (2" to 4") fell on extreme Southern Texas. On Saturday the 27^th, a vigorous low-pressure system moving east across Northern Mexico generated torrential rains across South Texas. Corpus Christi, Del Rio, and Laredo all broke their daily record rainfall amounts when each city measured 2.07", 1.64", and 1.97" respectively. San Antonio's rainfall total (1.44") was their highest single-day total since October 18, 1998. 2.51" of rain were reported at Brownsville on the 28^th which wound up being their third-wettest March day on record.
 
 

                                                                 Prepared by:  John F. Griffiths (State Climatologist)

                                                                 MARCH 1999

	Avg		Avg				Abs	Abs	No. of	Total	% of	Gr'st
	Max		Min		Mean		Max	Min	Days	Pcpn	Avg	24 hr
Station	Temp	Dep	Temp	Dep	Temp	Dep	Temp	Temp	Precip.	(In)	Pcpn	Pcpn	HDD*	CDD*
Abilene	65.5	-3.4	44.2	0.9	54.9	-1.2	82	31	5	2.92	215%	1.13	311	4
Amarillo	58.9	-2.7	33.6	0.9	46.0	-1.1	81	22	4	1.35	141%	0.73	564	0
Austin	71.9	0.0	52.8	1.7	62.4	0.9	87	40	10	4.09	219%	1.58	118	39
Brownsville	79.8	1.4	62.1	3	71.0	2.2	91	44	6	3.01	568%	2.51	9	200
College Station	71.5	0.5	51.3	1.6	61.4	1.1	85	31	9	4.13	160%	2.06	133	36
Corpus Christi	77.9	2.2	58.6	3.3	68.3	2.7	98	43	7	2.20	234%	2.10	37	146
Dallas/Ft. Worth	65.9	-1.9	46.9	1.3	56.4	-0.3	81	31	11	2.84	103%	1.52	263	4
Del Rio	76.6	0.9	53.6	2.7	65.1	1.8	93	38	5	1.89	274%	1.67	63	72
El Paso	72.5	2.6	43.4	3.2	58.0	2.9	83	30	1	0.04	14%	0.04	217	8
Houston	74.5	3.4	52.9	2.9	63.7	3.1	85	32	9	3.44	118%	1.00	106	73
Lubbock*	62.0	-4.0	38.0	1.6	50.0	-1.2	84	28	6	1.03	116%	0.56	460	4
Midland	69.0	-2.2	42.7	2.5	55.9	0.2	88	25	3	1.22	210%	0.62	285	8
Port Arthur*	72.0	0.5	53.0	1.7	63.0	1.6	84	35	7	3.45	106%	1.34	108	35
San Angelo	69.3	-3.3	45.2	1.7	57.3	-0.8	84	28	6	2.32	255%	1.30	240	8
San Antonio	73.5	0.0	51.8	2.1	62.7	1.0	91	32	12	3.48	229%	1.80	109	45
Victoria	74.1	0.4	54.5	1.7	64.3	1.0	88	34	10	3.41	220%	1.60	91	75
Waco*	67.0	-2.6	47.0	0.2	57.0	-1.2	82	31	12	3.16	136%	0.97	233	2
Wichita Falls	63.2	-3.2	41.4	0.8	52.3	-1.2	79	29	8	6.29	285%	3.15	388	0
Shreveport, LA	66.5	-2.7	46.2	0.4	56.4	-1.1	79	32	15	5.10	135%	1.10	261	0

              * Complete temperature data were unavailable. Temperatures are rounded to the nearest whole degree.
              *HDD - Heating degree-day: Refer to the Monthly Average chart for a definition T = Trace (<0.005")
              *CDD - Cooling degree-day: Refer to the Monthly Average chart for a definition M: Information not available.

                                               CLIMATIC AVERAGES FOR APRIL

			Rec	Rec		Gr'st	Gr'st	Mean # of Days
	Avg	Avg	High	Low	Avg	Mon	24 hr			Pcpn
	Max	Min	Max	Min	Pcpn	Pcpn	Pcpn	Max. T.	Min. T	>or=
Station	Temp	Temp	Temp	Temp	(In)	(In)	(In)	>90°F	<32°F	0.01"	HDD*	CDD*
Abilene	78	53	99	25	1.90	6.80	3.75	3	1	6	94	106
Amarillo	72	42	98	14	0.99	3.74	1.99	1	4	5	266	20
Austin	79	42	98	35	2.56	9.93	3.86	2	0	7	28	166
Brownsville	84	67	102	38	1.56	6.62	5.20	4	0	4	0	312
College Station	78	58	96	28	3.38	12.50	5.17	1	0	7	39	135
Corpus Christi	82	63	102	33	1.72	8.04	7.19	1	0	4	9	234
Dallas/Ft. Worth	76	55	95	29	3.50	12.19	4.55	1	<1	5	75	90
Del Rio	83	59	106	33	1.98	7.51	4.27	7	0	8	14	203
El Paso	79	48	98	23	0.20	1.42	1.08	2	1	2	110	62
Galveston	74	65	92	38	2.43	11.04	9.23	<1	0	6	16	145
Houston	78	58	95	31	3.21	10.92	8.16	1	<1	7	36	135
Lubbock	75	47	100	22	0.97	3.48	2.18	2	2	4	161	44
Midland	80	49	101	20	0.83	2.85	1.62	3	1	3	108	96
Port Arthur	78	60	93	25	3.51	15.30	10.90	<1	0	7	32	149
San Angelo	81	53	103	25	1.67	5.10	3.32	5	1	5	70	130
San Antonio	80	58	100	35	2.50	9.32	4.88	2	<1	7	32	161
Victoria	80	61	98	33	2.41	9.43	8.57	1	0	6	15	183
Waco	78	56	101	27	3.19	13.37	5.09	1	<1	7	66	129
Wichita Falls	76	50	102	24	3.01	8.50	4.09	3	1	7	125	68
Shreveport, LA	77	55	94	31	4.71	21.84	10.44	<1	<1	9	69	90
Sunrise/Sunset			SUNRISE			SUNSET			DAYTIME LENGTH
	1st		6:26 am CDT			6:56 pm CDT			12 hr 30 min
	30th		6:53 am CST			8:15 pm CST			13 hr 22 min
Moon Phases		NEW		FIRST QTR.			FULL			LAST QTR.
		15th			22nd		30th			8th
		11:23 pm CST		2:03 pm CST			9:56 am CST			8:52 pm CST

 

March began with Texas' 1015 sweet onions doing extremely well considering the fact that they were planted late this year. The onions were planted late this year because the fall of 1998 was one of the wettest in South Texas history. Joe Pena, extension economist in Uvalde, said the onions are growing rapidly now because of the mild winter we had. Pena stated," the state's production for this year is forecast at 347.2 million pounds, which is an increase of 20% from last year." According to Pena that is enough onions to make about 26 billion onion rings.

Armyworms were a big problem for the farmers in the Texas Panhandle during the month. Southwestern areas of the Panhandle were also dealing with large greenbug infestations. The harvesting of sugarcane, cabbage, carrots and greens continued in South Texas while the planting of cotton and sorghum were reaching their peak activity.

During the middle of the month, wheat producers across Texas were concerned about the crop's rapid growth. The wheat crop was said to be up to three weeks ahead of schedule due to the warm temperatures over the past month. Farmers were extremely happy in the Rolling Plains when anywhere from 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches of rain fell. Up to that point the crops were on the verge of dying. In Southwest Texas dry conditions were slowing winter pasture growth.

As the month came to a close, a strong cold spell brought much of Southwest and West Central Texas the coldest temperatures in the state. The Texas Agricultural Extension Service reported however that the cold spell did not stunt the peaches and grapes in the area. West Texas received anywhere from 1/2 to 2 inches of rain during the final few days of the month. Dr. Bruce Carpenter, extension livestock specialist in Fort Stockton, said the rainfall will help postpone severe culling of cattle in the district. Cattle producers are likely to maintain their herd size in hopes that the rain will stimulate forage growth.
 
 
 
 

                                     Chris J. Gordon

                                                                    Material obtained from:
                                                                                                         TAMU Extension Crop, Livestock and Weather reports
 
 

Monthly Weather Outlook for April 1999

The 30-day outlook for the month of April indicates that temperatures will most likely be slightly above normal for the entire state of Texas. Probabilities for above normal temperatures increase from 33% in extreme Northeast Texas to about 45% in the Trans Pecos region. The entire state of Texas can expect precipitation to be below normal for April with the probabilities for below normal precipitation being around 40%.

Past Weather Events in April

April 26, 1906: A tornado hit Bellevue, Clay County. Considerable damage was also done at Stoneburg, seven miles east; killing 17, injuring 20 and causing $300,000 in damages.

April 20-26, 1915: A rainstorm originated over Central Texas and spread into North and East Texas with precipitation up to 10 inches, causing floods in Trinity, Brazos, Colorado, and Guadalupe rivers. More than 40 lives were lost and there was $2,330,000 damage.

April 2, 1957: A tornado hit the city of Dallas in Dallas County. 10 people were killed and more than 200 others were injured. Damage was $4 million. Moving through Oak Cliff and West Dallas , the tornado damaged 574 buildings, largely homes.