3227 Audley Houston, Texas 77098 Phone: 713-529-3076 Fax: 713-528-3538 E-mail: wrc@wxresearch.org
Press Release
For Immediate Release
June 28, 2005
For Information Contact: Jill Hasling 713-529-3076
"Will it ever rain again?"
HOUSTON – June could turn out to be one of the driest on record for Houston.
Through yesterday, Houston officially had only .08 inches of rain. If Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport does not receive any more rain in the next three days, this month will go down as the driest June. Currently 1934 has the record of the driest June with0.12 inches of rain.
There have been 16 years since 1889 with less than 1 inch of rain during the month of June [see the Table below]. Four of these years had double digit rainfall in the prior month of May [1907, 1914, 1936 and 1970]. In 1915 the dry spell was broken in August with 15.43 inches when a hurricane made landfall in Galveston. In September 1958, the dry spell was broken with a tropical storm in Texas. Six of these years had annual rainfall total less than 40 inches [ 1915, 1930, 1931, 1917, 1967, and 1980] .
Years with less than 1" of rain in June in Houston
|
1891 |
0.81 |
|
1897 |
0.91 |
|
1907 |
0.94 |
|
1912 |
0.77 |
|
1914 |
0.95 |
|
1915 |
0.39 |
|
1917 |
0.83 |
|
1930 |
0.46 |
|
1931 |
0.61 |
|
1934 |
0.12 |
|
1936 |
0.53 |
|
1958 |
0.47 |
|
1967 |
0.17 |
|
1970 |
0.26 |
|
1974 |
0.59 |
|
1980 |
0.92 |
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The data above was collected at the following locations:
1889 to September 1909 data was collected in downtown Houston at Cotton Station
Building.
October 1909 to February 1926 data was collected in downtown Houston at the Stewart
Building at Preston and Fannin.
March 1926 to August 1938 data was collected in downtown Houston at the Shell Building
at Texas and Fannin.
August 1938 to March 1958 data was collected in downtown Houston at the Federal
Building at Franklin and Fannin.
August 1958 to June 1969 data was collected at Houston Hobby Airport.
June 1969 to present data was collected at Houston IAH airport.
Will it ever rain again? Believe it or not Houston is in a tropical climate and we are entering the periods when we usually have tropical rains. Unfortunately we sometimes make up this deficit with a tropical downpour as a result of a tropical disturbance, depression, storm, or hurricane.
Background :
Jill F. Hasling is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist and Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. She is a researcher and founding director of the Weather Research Center and The WRC Weather Museum, which is a non-profit educational and research facility, based in Houston, Texas. Ms. Hasling has over 30 years experience and has been involved in meteorological research and education for many years. For more information please visit www.wxresearch.com.
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