TM Weather Research Center
TM Weather Research Center
3227 Audley Houston, Texas 77098 Phone: 713-529-3076 Fax: 713-528-3538 E-mail:
wrc@wxresearch.org
Monday, December 31, 2001
2001 - Very Wet Year for Houston
HOUSTON - According to meteorologists at Weather Research Center rainfall has surpassed the 70-inch mark this year, the first time since 1997 and only the 8th time since records have been kept. The total rainfall for Houston this year is 71.17 inches above normal at Bush Intercontinental Airport AND 72.55 inches at Hobby Airport.
Normal yearly rainfall for Houston is 46.07 inches at Bush IAH and 45.70 inches at Hobby Airport. The following table represents the 7 other years in which Houston has received over 70 inches of rain from 1900-2001:
1900 72.86" Houston Downtown
1919 72.38" Houston Downtown
1949 71.19 Hobby Airport
1973 70.16 Bush Intercontinental 80.02" Hobby Airport
1979 83.02 Hobby Airport
1981 82.14 Hobby Airport
1997 78.41 Hobby Airport
The wettest year on record was 1979 when 83.02 inches of rain fell at Hobby Airport. That was the year that Tropical Storm Claudette visited Houston and dumped a record 43 inches of rain at Alvin. The next wettest year was 1981 when 82.14 inches of rain fell at Hobby Airport. The record for Bush IAH is 70.16 inches set in 1973 which will be broken this year with the heavy rains which accompanied Tropical Storm Allison.The wettest year on record was 1979 when 83.02 inches of rain fell at Hobby Airport. That was the year that Tropical Storm Claudette visited Houston and dumped a record 43 inches of rain in Alvin in 24 hours. The next wettest year was 1981 when 82.14 inches of rain fell at Hobby Airport. The record for Bush IAH is 70.16 inches set in 1973 which will be broken this year with the heavy rains which accompanied Tropical Storm Allison.
| YEAR | JAN | FEB | MAR | APR | MAY | JUN | JUL | AUG | SEP | OCT | NOV | DEC | ANNUAL |
| 1900 | 7.26 | 4.66 | 4.22 | 6.57 | 3.07 | 3.75 | 14.80 | 10.74 | 5.36 | 1.75 | 4.96 | 5.72 | 72.86 |
| 1919 | 8.52 | 3.12 | 3.25 | 1.16 | 6.14 | 15.85 | 7.30 | 3.82 | 8.68 | 9.72 | 1.78 | 3.04 | 72.38 |
| 1949 | 4.76 | 5.24 | 4.43 | 6.17 | 1.18 | 2.55 | 9.39 | 3.87 | 1.31 | 22.31 | 0.18 | 9.80 | 71.19 |
| 1973 | 5.00 | 3.40 | 3.68 | 7.15 | 4.22 | 13.46 | 6.77 | 3.73 | 9.38 | 9.31 | 1.59 | 2.47 | 70.16 |
| 1979 | 5.54 | 4.53 | 7.93 | 5.87 | 4.99 | 6.75 | 17.26 | 5.49 | 15.00 | 5.87 | 1.41 | 2.38 | 83.02 |
| 1981 | 3.56 | 3.18 | 1.57 | 1.84 | 11.13 | 15.48 | 9.14 | 16.01 | 2.26 | 12.52 | 2.73 | 2.72 | 82.14 |
| 1997 | 6.52 | 6.75 | 6.06 | 9.01 | 8.61 | 6.29 | 2.52 | 1.97 | 9.26 | 10.38 | 2.17 | 7.25 | 78.41 |
| 2001 | 4.25 | 0.82 | 7.98 | 2.00 | 3.54 | 19.21 | 2.05 | 4.82 | 8.82 | 8.95 | 2.58 | 6.17 | 71.18 |
Notice four out of the eight years had more than 13 inched of rain in the month of June. Most of the heavy rainfall events were associated with tropical systems during the months of May through October.
If you use the OCSI which is an index that Weather Research Center usually uses to predict the landfall of tropical systems, Houston had a better than normal good chance of receiving over 60 inches of rain this year. Since 1900, there have been there have been 18 years in Houston when over 60 inches of rain fell either downtown, Hobby Airport or Bush Intercontinental.