Crunching the Numbers on our Spring Heat

You don't need a meteorologist to tell you that it has been a hot spring. Not only have temperatures been above normal since April, but in many cases, we have broken record highs and seen temperatures top out at the century mark on a number of occasions.

The main reason for our hot stretch of weather solely has to do with our extreme to exceptional drought which continues to hold its grip on Deep East Texas.

Over the last couple of days, I did some number crunching on our high temperatures. Here's some interesting factoids in a category I like to call "Did You Know."

Number of 100° Days
The Angelina County Airport, just south of Lufkin, has hit the century mark already 6 times this month, including today. Considering we have another 14 days to go, who knows how many more triple digit days we might see.

Record High Temperatures
Since May 1st, we have tied our record high temperature only 2 times, but have broken or surpassed the record on 7 different occasions.

Number of 90° Days in 2011
This stat may be the most staggering to date. In looking back at the highs since April 1st, we have hit or surpassed the 90° mark an astonishing 39 times. Of those occurrences, we had a temperature of 90° or higher 10 times in the month of April which is mind-boggling.

We can't end this blog entry before giving you some good news. It does look like the heat will let up by the middle of next week as our high pressure ridge breaks down. That let up in the heat will also come with better rain chances. I'll have more on this in the days ahead.

A Lunar Eclipse Outside of this Continent

Tomorrow night, you will notice a full moon shining brightly in the night sky. What you won't see, however, is the total lunar eclipse that most of planet earth will get to view.



A lunar eclipse can only occur during a full moon. This results from the moon's orbit around the earth in which the moon becomes fully engulfed in the Earth's shadow.

Not On our Continent

Unfortunately, residents in North America will not be able to view this total lunar eclipse, which starts at 12:24pm our time on Wednesday and lasts until 6pm.

This lunar eclipse will be the longest total lunar eclipse in eleven years and is expected to last around eleven minutes.

Part of the eclipse will be visible in South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, while the entirety of the event can be seen in Africa and the Middle East.

Interesting Stats on our Drought

When I was at Texas A&M studying meteorology, one of my professors was Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon. Not only is he a professor at the greatest university in the world, Dr. Nielson-Gammon is also the Texas state climatologist.

Just recently, the Texas AgriLife Extension Service interviewed our state climatologist on just how bad our current drought is and where it ranks all time.

"Based on Palmer Drought Severity Index values, this is the third-worst drought Texas has ever seen in the month of May," Nielsen-Gammon said. "Records go back to 1895. May also marks the end of the driest eight-month period on record."

Dr. Nielsen-Gammon also stated in one of his recent blogs that the two worst droughts occurred in the years of 1918 and 1956.

It should be noted that according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, nearly 50% of the state remains in an "exceptional" drought, which is the worst drought category possible. In addition, more than 90% of the state of Texas is either experiencing a "severe" or "exceptional" drought.

2011 Hurricane Season is Underway

Today is the official start of the 2011 Atlantic Hurricane season. We are now entering a six month stretch in which the tropics will be monitored on a daily basis. The season always starts on June 1st and runs through the end of November.

This is the list of names we will be using in the Atlantic Basin this year. It should be noted that there are six lists of names that rotate every six years.

The 2011 Atlantic storm names is the same list that was used back in our record setting season of 2005. As you look through the list, you will notice that a lot of the names look familiar.


What you may not know is that we have five new names that are replacing historic hurricanes from that 2005 season. Don will replace Dennis, Katia replaces Katrina, Rina replaces Rita, Sean will replace Stan, and Whitney has been added as she replaces Wilma.



Already a System Worth Watching

On this June 1st, there is a flare up of showers and storms associated with a disturbance tracking through Florida. While this system has very little chance of developing into our first named storm, it could give us a few showers this weekend as it tracks westward through the northern Gulf of Mexico.



Hurricane Center is Your One Stop Shop

Remember that you can stay up-to-date with any developments in the tropics by going to our Hurricane Center. It is there where you can get satellite images in the tropics, the latest storm positions, forecast track, and more.

Slight Improvement in the Ongoing Drought

After receiving an average of 1-3" of rain from two storm systems in as many weeks, the vegetation and plants have perked up just a bit.

In driving around town earlier this week, I could not help but notice the grass looks a little greener and the ground not as crunchy as it did when we started the month.

While we still have a significant drought ongoing, things have improved slightly for most of us, thanks to some soaking showers and thunderstorms the past couple of weeks.

The image left is from a few weeks ago. Notice that pretty much all of Deep East Texas was in an "exceptional" drought. That is a stage four drought and the worst possible stage of drought to be in.

This past Tuesday, the updated drought showed that a good chunk of East Texas has improved from an exceptional drought to an extreme drought. Even though it is only a bump up from a stage four to a stage three, at least that's an improvement.

Unfortunately, it looks like a big dome of high pressure will be building overhead this holiday weekend, meaning the heat and dry weather will be returning to the Pineywoods.

Another Active Atlantic Hurricane Season Expected

Earlier today, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued their outlook for the upcoming 2011 Atlantic hurricane season.

NOAA'S Outlook calls for 12-18 storms, 6-10 of which will become hurricanes, and 3-6 of those hurricanes being major hurricanes (category 3 or higher).

Here are the other outlooks and predictions:

Dr. William Gray and his team at Colorado St. University

16 named storms

9 hurricanes

5 major hurricanes

Accu Weather

15 named storms

8 hurricanes

3 major hurricanes

Keep in mind that an average year consists of 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The bottom line is that all the different forecasting companies are predicting an above average year.

There are basically two main reasons why we are expecting another active hurricane season.

1.) A waning, but still existent La Nina phase, which looks to continue into the summer months. Wind shear in the upper atmosphere becomes very light, therefore, allowing storms to develop in a more favorable environment.

2.) Warmer than normal sea surface temperatures in the Gulf, Caribbean, and Atlantic ocean. This added warmth creates the extra fuel for these tropical heat engines to develop and do so at a very rapid pace.

Hurricane season officially begins on June 1st and runs through the end of November. The peak of hurricane season takes place in late August through late September.

Receiving a Nice Soaking

A slow moving storm system provided East Texans with not one, but two days of heavy rain and thunderstorms.

Round one came in on Wednesday night from North Central Texas, providing us with substantial rain for the first time in several weeks.

On Thursday, round two came in from a thunderstorm complex in South Central Texas.

When it was all said and done, several communities in Deep East Texas picked up some very nice rainfall totals.

As you can see from our weather watcher rainfall reports, many areas saw anywhere from 1-3" of rain, with Tim Martin in Broaddus reporting 3.60" and Lane Lowery in Huntington receiving 3.47".

While the rain was much welcome and needed, we still have a long way to go before our "exceptional" drought status can be reduced. Keep in mind that burn bans are still in place for all of our local counties except Houston county.