PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 310 PM CDT FRI SEP 15 2006 ...AUGUST 2006 SLIGHTLY DRIER THAN NORMAL... ...TEMPERATURES SLIGHTLY WARMER THAN NORMAL... ...JANUARY THROUGH AUGUST TEMPERATURES CONSIDERABLY WARMER THAN NORMAL... BREAKING A RECENT TREND OF BELOW NORMAL SUMMER TEMPERATURES...AUGUST SAW A RETURN OF WARMER TEMPERATURES. TEMPERATURES ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS AVERAGED ABOUT 1 TO 2 DEGREES WARMER THAN NORMAL. DESPITE THE WARMER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES...THE 100 DEGREE THRESHOLD WAS ONLY EXCEEDED A HANDFUL OF TIMES OVER THE NORTHWEST HALF OF THE REGION ON THE 16TH AND 17TH. OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES WERE SIGNIFICANTLY WARMER THAN NORMAL. GALVESTON TIED FOR IT`S SEVENTH WARMEST AUGUST IN RECORDED HISTORY. EIGHT OUT OF GALVESTON`S TEN WARMEST AUGUSTS HAVE OCCURRED SINCE 1988. AUGUST 2006 WAS THE 20TH WARMEST AUGUST IN RECORDED HISTORY FOR HOUSTON AND THE 24TH WARMEST AUGUST AT COLLEGE STATION. A RECENT NOAA PRESS RELEASE INDICATED THAT THE NATION ENDURED THE WARMEST JANUARY THROUGH AUGUST IN RECORDED HISTORY. LOCALLY... MOTHER NATURE WAS A LITTLE KINDER TO SOUTHEAST TEXAS...BUT ONLY A LITTLE KINDER. GALVESTON HAD IT`S SECOND WARMEST JANUARY THROUGH AUGUST. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THE FIRST EIGHT MONTHS OF 2006 WAS 73.84 DEGREES. THE 30 YEAR AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THIS TIME PERIOD IS 71.96 DEGREES. THE WARMEST JAN-AUG OCCURRED BACK IN 2000 WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 74.11 DEGREES. COLLEGE STATION ENDURED IT`S FOURTH WARMEST JAN-AUG WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 72.08 DEGREES. THE 30 YEAR AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THIS TIME PERIOD IS 70.05 DEGREES. THE WARMEST YEAR OCCURRED BACK IN 1911 WITH AN AVERAGE JAN-AUG TEMPERATURE OF 73.11. HOUSTON HAD IT`S TENTH WARMEST JAN-AUG WITH AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE OF 72.48 DEGREES. THE 30 YEAR AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR THIS TIME PERIOD IS 70.25 DEGREES. THE WARMEST JAN-AUG OCCURRED BACK IN 1911 WHEN THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE WAS 73.24 DEGREES. HERE ARE THE TEN WARMEST JANUARY THROUGH AUGUST FOR EACH OF THE PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES: HOUSTON GALVESTON COLLEGE STATION 73.24 - 1911 74.11 - 2000 73.11 - 1911 72.96 - 1999 73.84 - 2006 72.46 - 1925 72.91 - 1927 73.78 - 1999 72.26 - 2000 72.81 - 1957 73.29 - 2005 72.08 - 2006 72.78 - 1890 73.24 - 1882 71.88 - 1916 72.76 - 2000 73.05 - 1876 71.86 - 1990 72.70 - 1907 73.00 - 1927 71.73 - 1935 72.63 - 1953 73.00 - 1880 71.66 - 1999 72.56 - 1954 72.83 - 1950 71.65 - 1996 72.48 - 2006 72.75 - 1990 71.64 - 1927 THE NOAA PRESS RELEASE (WWW.NOAANEWS.NOAA.GOV/STORIES2006/S2700.HTM) ALSO MENTIONED THAT THE SUMMER (DEFINED AS JUNE THROUGH AUGUST) WAS ALSO THE SECOND WARMEST SUMMER ACROSS THE COUNTRY. SOUTHEAST TEXAS FARED CONSIDERABLY BETTER THAN OTHER REGIONS. MOST OF THE COUNTRY ENDURED AVERAGE TEMPERATURES 2.4 DEGREES WARMER THAN NORMAL. BELOW IS A BRIEF TABLE THAT SHOWS TEMPERATURES LOCALLY WERE GENERALLY NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL. SITE JUNE DEP JULY DEP AUGUST DEP AVERAGE DEP HOUSTON 81.3 0.0 83.3 -0.3 84.9 +1.6 83.2 +0.5 GALVESTON 82.6 +0.4 83.6 -0.7 85.4 +1.0 83.9 +0.6 COL STAT 81.8 +0.2 83.7 -0.9 86.0 +1.3 83.8 +0.2 RAINFALL WAS SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL FOR THE MONTH. RAINFALL WAS EQUALLY DISTRIBUTED THROUGH THE MONTH. GALVESTON ESTABLISHED A 24 HOUR RAINFALL RECORD ON THE 10TH WITH 1.42 INCHES OF RAIN. HERE IS THE AUGUST TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL DATA FROM A FEW SITES ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS SITE AVG AVG AVG DEP RAIN DEP HIGH LOW DAILY IAH 94.1 75.7 84.9 +1.6 3.40 -0.43 GLS 90.2 80.5 85.4 +1.0 5.24 +1.02 CLL 96.6 75.5 86.0 +1.3 2.47 -0.16 HOU 92.4 76.6 84.5 +0.1 2.92 -1.62 CXO 95.4 71.6 83.5 +0.2 0.71 -2.99 UTS 95.8 74.7 85.3 +2.1 3.26 -0.46 DWH 94.4 75.2 84.8 +1.9 3.49 -1.33 SGR 93.2 74.5 83.8 +0.7 4.02 -1.36 LVJ 93.5 77.1 85.3 +2.0 4.66 -0.36 HGX 90.8 74.5 82.6 +0.6 4.71 +0.14 LBX 92.0 74.1 83.0 +0.6 3.02 -1.74 PSX 91.2 78.7 85.0 +0.4 2.78 -0.58 && RECORDS RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE GALVESTON 96 DEGREES ON THE 17TH 95 DEGREES IN 1969 RECORD HIGH MINIMUM TEMPERATURE GALVESTON 83 DEGREES ON THE 2ND (TIED) 83 DEGREES IN 1988 84 DEGREES ON THE 18TH (TIED) 84 DEGREES IN 2005 HOUSTON 79 DEGREES ON THE 18TH 78 DEGREES IN 1984 78 DEGREES ON THE 19TH 76 DEGREES IN 2004 79 DEGREES ON THE 27TH 78 DEGREES IN 1999 77 DEGREES ON THE 28TH 76 DEGREES IN 1956 78 DEGREES ON THE 29TH 78 DEGREES IN 1995 COLLEGE STATION 77 DEGREES ON THE 25TH (TIED) 77 DEGREES IN 2004 78 DEGREES ON THE 28TH 79 DEGREES IN 1940 RECORD RAINFALL GALVESTON 1.42 INCHES ON THE 10TH 1.35 INCHES IN 1943 $$