000
NOUS44 KHGX 022322
PNSHGX
TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-030500-

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
622 PM CDT THU OCT 2 2008

      ...HURRICANE IKE DOMINATES WEATHER IN SEPTEMBER...

SEPTEMBER 2008 WILL LONG BE REMEMBERED AS THE MONTH THAT BROUGHT
US IKE. THE MONTH STARTED OUT WITH HURRICANE GUSTAV HEADING TOWARD
LOUISIANA. A WEEK LATER IKE FORMED AND HEADED TOWARD THE TEXAS
COAST MAKING LANDFALL NEAR GALVESTON ON SEPTEMBER 13TH. HURRICANE IKE
WAS A CATEGORY 2 STORM ON THE SAFFIR SIMPSON SCALE. THE STORM
SURGE WAS CONSIDERABLY HIGHER THAN WHAT A CATEGORY 2 STORM WOULD
PRODUCE. UNPROTECTED AREAS OF GALVESTON ISLAND AND THE BOLIVAR
PENINSULA WERE ESPECIALLY HARD HIT. WATER FROM GALVESTON BAY
FLOODED MUCH OF THE CITY OF GALVESTON. PARTS OF THE HISTORIC
STRAND HAD BETWEEN 3 AND 4 FEET OF WATER. WHEN ALL IS SAID AND
DONE...DAMAGES FROM IKE WILL PROBABLY EXCEED 50 BILLION DOLLARS.

HURRICANE IKE HAD AN EXPANSIVE WIND FIELD AND HURRICANE FORCE WINDS
PUMMELED THE AREA FOR 3 TO 5 HOURS. TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS
ROARED ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS FOR ABOUT TEN HOURS. THE STRONG
WINDS KNOCKED OUT POWER ACROSS VIRTUALLY THE ENTIRE REGION. THE
LACK OF POWER MADE DATA COLLECTION A DIFFICULT AND NEARLY
IMPOSSIBLE TASK. DATA FOR GALVESTON IS NOT RETRIEVABLE AT THIS
TIME. OTHER AUTOMATED OBSERVATION SYSTEMS IN THE PATH OF IKE ALSO
SUFFERED INJURIES AND SIGNIFICANT DATA LOSS. RAINFALL WITH IKE
AVERAGED BETWEEN SIX AND TEN INCHES WITH ISOLATED TOTALS BETWEEN
13 AND 16 INCHES. FLOODING WAS LOCALIZED IN HOUSTON BUT ABOUT A
DOZEN HOMES WERE FLOODED ALONG BRAYS BAYOU NEAR LAWNDALE. ASIDE
FROM IKE...WEATHER DURING SEPTEMBER WAS RATHER BENIGN.

DUE TO EVACUATIONS...DAMAGE TO OBSERVATION EQUIPMENT AND POWER
OUTAGES...MUCH OF THE DATA MID-MONTH WAS MISSING OR ESTIMATED.
RAINFALL DATA ON THE 13TH AND 14TH FOR INTERCONTINENTAL AND HOBBY
AIRPORT WERE ESTIMATED USING COCORAHS DATA...CO-OP VOLUNTEER
DATA...PUBLIC REPORTS...RADAR ESTIMATIONS AND HARRIS COUNTY
RAINFALL DATA. A BIG THANK YOU GOES OUT TO ALL WHO RELAYED WIND
AND RAINFALL DATA TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. THERE CAN NEVER
BE ENOUGH DATA. ONE WAY TO GET INVOLVED IS TO JOIN COCORAHS.
COCORAHS IS AN ACRONYM FOR COMMUNITY COLLABORATIVE RAIN...HAIL AND
SNOW NETWORK. IT IS EASY TO JOIN...JUST POINT YOUR WEB BROWSER TO
WWW.COCORAHS.ORG.

BELOW IS A TABLE WITH TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL DATA FOR SOME
CLIMATE SITES ACROSS SOUTHEAST TEXAS. MANY OF THE SITES CONTAIN
MISSING OR ESTIMATED DATA.

SITE     AVG     AVG     AVG     DEP     RAIN     DEP


IAH      88.1    68.4    78.2   -0.7    12.33     +8.00
HOU      87.7    70.6    79.1   -1.4    10.95     +5.33
CLL      88.2    67.5    77.8   -1.8     3.47     -0.44
GLS      NA      NA      NA      NA      NA       NA
UTS      86.5    64.7    75.6   -2.4     5.28     +0.55
CXO      87.8    66.9    77.4   -0.9    10.13     +5.67
CXO - INCOMPLETE - DATA MISSING FROM 09/13 TO 09/19
LBX      88.3    67.4    77.9   -1.3     5.06     +0.30
SGR      88.5    68.7    78.6   +1.0     7.77     +4.62
PSX      90.3    68.1    79.2   +0.2     0.86     -5.72
HGX      86.1    69.2    77.6   -0.7    13.06     +5.95
DWH      92.4    69.5    80.9   +2.2     0.58     -4.52
DWH - INCOMPLETE - DATA MISSING FROM 09/13 TO 09/29

$$