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The 2000 hurricane season finally got underway with the formation of Alberto on August 4. The Gulf of Mexico got a bit of a scare when Tropical Storm Beryl formed in the Western Gulf of Mexico on August 14, but the storm made landfall on the northeastern Mexican Coast well south of Brownsville the next day and had little impact on the Northern Gulf oil leases. Tropical Storm Chris briefly appeared, forming east of the Lesser Antilles on August 17, then tracked northwestward and dissipated on August 19. Debby formed on August 20 out in the far eastern Atlantic Ocean, 1,100 miles east of the Windward Islands and tracked westward. Debby became a hurricane north of the Leeward Islands and track westward, north of Puerto Rico. As Debby approached Eastern Cuba, the storm ran into strong upper level southwesterly shear and weakened significantly and quickly. Forecast models had consistently indicated a possible threat to the Gulf of Mexico, but Debby was unable to overcome the upper level shearing and dissipated on August 24. To date, another tropical storm, Ernesto, developed on September 2. But this storm also met the same fate as previous storms as upper level shearing caused Ernesto to dissipate on September 3.

Weather Research Center’s overall outlook still calls for eight named storms to form in the Atlantic Ocean basin, including the Gulf of Mexico, with five reaching hurricane intensity. There could be storms as late as November which has a 30 percent chance of experiencing a tropical storm or hurricane. Also, there is a 30 percent chance of a Category 3 or greater hurricane occurring somewhere in the Atlantic – which has already verified with Alberto. A major hurricane is a storm with maximum sustained winds greater than 110 MPH.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the average July 2000 surface temperature in the U.S. was above normal, but far from a record. The average July temperature based on preliminary reports was 74.78 F, which is 0.47F warmer than the 106-year average, making it the 38^th warmest July since records began in 1895. Conditions were generally cooler and wetter than normal in the Northeast and Midwest regions, while warmer and drier than normal conditions continued to prevail across many of the states in the Deep South and Western U.S.

Although the average July temperature was far from record-breaking in the U.S., the abnormally warm conditions observed earlier this year made the January-July 2000 average temperature (58.54F) the warmest such seven-month period on record. Every state in the contiguous U.S., except for South Carolina, Main and Vermont, was warmer than normal. Above average temperatures have been most persistent in the western half of the U.S. This was the warmest January-July on record for New Mexico, Texas and Utah. It was the second warmest for Colorado, Nevada and Wyoming. Fifteen states throughout the South and West were much drier than normal including Florida, which experienced its second driest year-to-date period. Conversely, wetter than normal conditions prevailed in 17 states, mainly in the Northeast and Midwest. For the nation, January-July 2000 was the 32^nd driest such period since 1895.

Jill F. Hasling, CCM and Director of Weather Research Center, was elected to the position of President-elect for the 2000-2001 year. Her appointment was decided at the annual meeting of the National Council of Industrial Meteorologists (NCIM). Ms. Hasling is the first and only woman member of the NCIM. This elite group of private meteorologist is made up of all American Meteorological Society Certified Consulting Meteorologists who are involved in consulting in the private sector. Ms. Hasling has also been nominated for a council position for the American Meteorological Society. Elections will be held this fall.

During the months of June, July and August, 115 campers ranging from ages 5-75 participated in this year’s Weather Camp. The most popular session remains Tornado Alley, a thorough investigation into the development and life of tornadoes. The campers were taught about the elements of weather as well as the weather safety rules. Cecilia Sinclair from KRIV-TV visited one of the sessions and filmed the future meteorologists. KHOU-TV filmed a five-year-old camper who boldly said, "I will be the next Dr. Neil Frank." The annual summer activity is a great educational program, but we are seeking corporate support. If your company is interested in participating next year, please contact us. We are always looking for camp sponsors.

The Houston chapter of the American Meteorological Society now has a presence on the World Wide Web. Check out the new site at www.houstonams.org. In July, a special meeting was held while William Roeder was in town. His presentation was on Forecasting Microbursts. Roeder is part of the 45^th Weather Squadron at Patrick AFB in Florida. The next dinner/meeting is scheduled for Friday, September 8, 2000 and Weather Research Center is one of the sponsors. It will be held at the Ocean Grill in Galveston, TX from 5-7pm. The topic is the 100^th Anniversary of the 1900 Galveston Storm.

During this year’s Weatherman’s Classic Golf Tournament, Weather Research Center introduced a new format for its silent auction. Items donated for the benefit of The Weather Museum were auctioned off on eBay, an Internet-based auction service. With over 2,000 categories and four million items up for bid, eBay has the legitimate claim of being the first and largest online trading community on the Internet. Some of the items included were autographed print of President George Bush’s library donated by former President George Bush, autographed photographs of The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore, Marshall Seese and Heather Tecsh. Other items included a gold and platinum necklace donated by Reiner’s Fine Jewelry in Houston, as well as other items donated by the Houston Astros, Gulf Consultants, Kestrel/Nielsen-Kellerman, Maximum Inc., SWS Communications and Weather Affects.

This was so successful The Weather Museum continues to have items available for auction. To access our current auction go to http:\\www.theweathermuseum.org and click onto the ebay logo in the main page and then click onto The Weather Museum.

You can now make your donations on line to The Weather Museum and Weather Research Center through givenation.com. Go to www.theweathermuseum.org and click onto the Givenation icon.

You can reach us at any of the following web site addresses:

www.wxresearch.com

www.wxresearch.org

www.weatherresearchcenter.com

www.weatherresearchcenter.org

www.theweathermuseum.org

www.weathernavigator.com

www.stormnavigator.com

www.weathercamp.com

Margarite Crooker Edstrom is a real weatherman’s daughter! Her father, Clayton Crooker, worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau for 42 years and then for the Institute for Storm Research/Weather Research Center where he was on the Board of Directors. Margarite grew up on weather, taking weather balloon observations, following tornadoes and even assessing air accidents with her father (much to her mother’s chagrin!).

Clayton Crooker’s work took him far and wide and, naturally, his family followed. Amazingly, Margarite went to kindergarten in three different states, first grade in two different states and high school in two different cities in Texas: Fort Worth and Houston. It was in Chicago where she worked for American Airlines that she met her husband, John Edstrom, who worked as a journalist for the Chicago Tribune. Happily, they married in 1959 and had a son, also Clayton, in 1960, and a daughter, Annamarie, in 1964. Their first grandchild, Stephanie, was born, coincidentally exactly the same date as her grandmother.

In 1965 John’s work brought him and his wife to Houston where John was advertising and promotion director of Sharpstown Center, when it was the largest shopping center in the city. Unfortunately, John developed kidney failure in 1976 and passed away in 1988. Despite the fact that the two of them were "cheated" on time, they achieved more than most in 50 years. They climbed all the pyramids in Mexico, Central America and South America and even went to Machu Pichu in Peru. Margarite went to work for Exxon in 1980 and is now an Exxon Annuitant. She was in the real estate department and, thanks to her trademark gift of the "gab," succeeded in selling approximately 1250 old Exxon gasoline stations all over the US. She then went into the marketing department where she worked on Commitment to Excellence, Alternative Retail Concepts and CORS (Co. owned retail stores).

Margarite’s interests have made her a favorite in her community. She works at her local church on the telephone committees, and is currently in charge of the "Greeter Committee." She is a member of the Exxon Braes Bayou Annuitant Club and Lifeline Club which was established for widows and widowers. Her interest in photography has resulted in the compilation of a commemorative scrapbook of yearly club events. She has never failed in her quest to see the world and have as much fun as possible, having traveled on four continents, visited 39 countries and been to all 50 states! She just recently returned from Idaho, her last state, where she tried her hand at parasailing for the second time! She also rode the "blimp" in Las Vegas recently on the sunset cruise.

Margarite’s connection with Weather Research Center dates back as far as 1972 when her father first came to work with us. Her father will always be remembered to the staff here as a great meteorologist and a dear friend. Margarite has been a full time volunteer since January and hopefully will be for many years to come!

This summer in Houston will go down as one of the hottest if you look at the maximum temperatures in July and August. The following chart gives the number of days each month that the maximum temperature exceeded 95 degrees. The all-time record for 96 degree-plus days during June through September is 78 days in 1980, followed by 69 days in 1998.

Another interesting fact is the ranking of the years on the number days in Houston when the maximum temperature was a 100 degrees or greater. The table below shows 1980 has the record so far with 32 days followed by 1998 with 24 days. So far this year we have had 20 days with 100 degrees or more. July had ten days with 100 degrees or more and August had five days with 100 degrees and so far September has had 5 [through September 5].

On Monday, September 4, Houston set an all-time record high temperature of 109 degrees. The previous record was 107 degrees set back on August 23, 1980 and was tied again on August 31, 2000 and again on September 1. September 5 had a maximum temperature of 108 degrees. An area of high pressure sitting stationary over Southeast Texas has resulted in these very hot temperatures.

It is the belief of a group of dedicated Houston meteorologists at the Weather Research Center that too many lives are lost and too much property damaged due to extreme weather conditions and lack of crucial education. This strong belief has led Dr. John C. Freeman and Ms. Jill F. Hasling (both Certified Consulting Meteorologists) to push even harder to fulfill their dream of completing The Weather Museum in the heart of Houston.

One needs only glance at the news to appreciate what a valuable commodity this museum will be. In the month of August alone numerous serious incidents involving lightning have been recorded: a 27-year-old logger from Huntingdon was fatally injured when a tree he was sawing was struck by lightning in Hankamer, Chambers County. A group of youths were severely shaken when lightning hit a tree they had taken shelter under at AstroWorld. And they are only the tip of the iceberg. "It saddens me that people are endangering and losing their lives because they don’t have access to the simplest information on weather safety," says Ms. Hasling, Director of The Weather Museum. "We are desperate to raise funds to complete the museum to prevent these kinds of tragedies from happening. These incidents show the importance of a place like the museum."

Heat is another killer that people often underestimate. The effects of extremely high temperatures cause more deaths in this country than the joint effects of lightning, floods and tornadoes. Says Hasling, "we want The Weather Museum to be a place where children, adults, anyone can have easy access to crucial weather safety information in a fun and informative atmosphere. Simple steps can save lives. No one needs to suffer as much as they do in our climate." Four heat-related deaths were recorded in Houston in one weekend in July alone. According to the National Weather Services, an average of 193 people die in this country each year as a direct result of excessive heat. Many more die from indirect effects such as heart attacks.

The Weather Museum will be a haven of information and education, says Dr. John Freeman, Director of Research at the center. "We need people to get involved in this project to help reduce the threat of weather and learn more about it." If you wish to donate to the Weather Museum, become a member or a volunteer please call Jo Finburgh at (713) 529-3076.

In the last issue, we asked what would be the name of the first hurricane this year in the Atlantic Ocean Basin? Well, it already occurred – Alberto. So here’s the next question: it's hurricane season, so let’s look back in the record books. This category five hurricane caused a 15 foot (4.6 meter) tidal surge as it came ashore in the Florida Keys on Labor Day. As many as 408 perished, including many World War I veterans at a local Civilian Conservation Corps camp. What date did this storm make landfall? Can you at least guess the year?

 The Weather Report is the official newsletter of the Weather Research Center and is published monthly. To receive the newsletter promptly, please send all address corrections to the Center. We are located at 3227 Audley St., Houston, Texas 77098. For information about the Center and its services, please call (713) 529-3076 or toll-free (800) 44-STORM. Our fax number is (713) 528-3538. The e-mail address is wrc@wxresearch.com. Our Internet addresses are www.weatherresearchcenter.com or www.weatherresearchcenter.org

Dr. Neil Frank, KHOU-TV; Frank Billingsley, KPRC-TV; Doug Brown, KTRK-TV;