A look back at 2007
showed it was an historic year
in meteorological terms, with numerous records of all kinds
being set, and several weather events causing
significant property damage in the millions of dollars.
Below is a
list of the Top 10 Weather Events of 2007 across
Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. Some weather
events have webpages with more information - click on the
weather event name to visit them!
#1 |
HURRICANE
HUMBERTO |
September 13, 2007 |
Hurricane Humberto developed extremely rapidly on September 12,
2007, before making landfall along the southwestern Jefferson County,
Texas coast as a Category 1 hurricane early on the morning of September
13, 2007. Humberto made history due to its rapid strengthening
from a tropical depression the morning of September 12, 2007, to a
hurricane early on September 13, 2007, as no other hurricane has ever
strengthened so quickly close to landfall. After making landfall
between High Island, TX, and Sea Rim State Park, TX, the hurricane then
tracked northeastward across Jefferson and Orange counties, impacting
the Golden Triangle metropolitan area of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and
Orange. This area had been severely damaged by Hurricane Rita just two
years earlier. Although a small hurricane with a very tight wind field,
Humberto caused considerable wind and flood damage across Jefferson and
Orange counties, with numerous trees and power lines blown down along
with some damage to structures. The storm knocked out power to 120,000
customers in the area. Damage estimates across Southeast Texas from
Humberto were around $60,000,000. |
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|
#2 |
NEW IBERIA TORNADO |
January 4, 2007 |
This tornado struck around 3:45 pm near the town of Lydia, then raced
northeastward at 50 mph, before dissipating around 3:50 pm near a
sugar cane factory northeast of New Iberia. The tornado was rated
a strong F1 on the Fujita Tornado Scale with winds approximately near
110 mph. 2 people were killed and 15 other injured along the tornado's
15 mile path. Numerous homes were damaged or destroyed, with
damage totals estimated around $1.5 million. |
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#3 |
ACADIANA TORNADOES |
February 13,
2007 |
Four tornadoes struck south-central Louisiana between 12 am and 2 am,
injuring 3 people and damaging over 100 homes. The strongest
tornado, which struck near Breaux Bridge, was rated EF2 and was the
strongest tornado to affect our area since 11/23/04. These severe
storms also produced hail up to golf-ball size, damaging thunderstorm
winds, and localized flooding. These tornadoes were among the first in
the country rated using the new Enhanced Fujita Scale, which replaced
the original Fujita Scale on February 1, 2007. |
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#4 |
LAKE CHARLES HAILSTORM |
June 4, 2007 |
An isolated severe thunderstorm developed south of Lufkin, Texas, along
an outflow boundary left from the complex of thunderstorms that affected
the region on June 3rd. This storm moved southeastward at 35-40 mph for
over 150 miles, producing numerous reports of large hail and wind damage
across Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana. The worst damage
occurred as the storm moved across south Lake Charles, with numerous
reports of high winds up to 80 mph, downed trees and power lines, and
hail up to golfball size covering the ground. Damage totals from the
hail and wind damage across Calcasieu Parish were around $500,000,
making this the worst hailstorm in the history of Lake Charles. |
|
#5 |
VERMILION PARISH FLOODING |
June 4, 2007 |
Showers and thunderstorms began developing early in the morning across
Acadiana south of Lafayette along an outflow boundary left over from
storms the previous day. By early afternoon, showers and thunderstorms
(some even reaching severe levels) continued to regenerate along this
boundary near Gueydan and moved eastward throughout the afternoon,
leading to torrential rainfall in a narrow corridor across northern
Vermilion Parish around Maurice. By Monday evening, radar had estimated
that 10 to 15 inches of rain had fallen. This led to widespread
flooding of over 50 homes in the area, some of which had reportedly
never flooded before. Many roadways in the area were also submerged,
including major thoroughfares such as Highway 167. |
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#6 |
LATE SPRING SEVERE SQUALL LINE |
June 3, 2007 |
A line of severe thunderstorms developed in the morning hours across
eastern Texas, then moved rapidly southeastward across the region.
Numerous reports of wind damage, including downed trees, power lines,
and roof damage, were received from this line of storms. Several
locations measured wind gusts over 60 mph. The worst damage was
across the northern Lakes Region of Southeast Texas, where power outages
affected the area for several days. |
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#7 |
EFFECTS OF TROPICAL STORM
ERIN & HURRICANE DEAN |
August 16 & 22, 2007
|
Tropical Storm Erin and Hurricane Dean both made landfall well south of
our region in southern Texas and Mexico during Mid-August.
However, both storms cause moderate to high waves along our coastal
areas, which combined with high tides to produce minor coastal flooding.
This led to some school and roadway closures for several days. |
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#8 |
AUGUST 2007 HEATWAVE |
August 8-14,
2007 |
A large and intense upper level ridge of high pressure centered over the
southern United States brought record heat to Southeast Texas and
Southwest Louisiana from August 8th through August 14th. Numerous
locations saw temperatures rise over the 100 degree mark for the first
time in one to two years. Some areas saw high temperatures soar to
readings not seen since the record heat wave that occurred 7 years ago
in the summer of 2000. This oppressive heat even lasted through the
overnight hours, with temperatures only falling into the 70s and lower
80s at night. Numerous record high temperatures and warm minimum
temperature records were set, and a few records were even the warmest
minimum temperatures ever seen for the month of August.
These extreme temperatures, when combined with dewpoints in the upper
60s to middle 70s, led to dangerous heat index values in the 105 to 112
degree range during the late morning and afternoon hours across the area
for several days...prompting near-daily heat advisories. |
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#9 |
EASTER WEEKEND WINTER STORM |
April 7, 2007
|
A winter storm affected the region well into the month of April, a very
unusual time of year for winter precipitation across this part of the
country. Despite temperatures above freezing, nearly all locations
across Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana reported sleet. A
mixture of snow and sleet fell across interior Southeast Texas and
Southwest Louisiana, where some light accumulations occurred and
prompted Winter Weather Advisories. This was the first winter
precipitation observed in the month of April in 70 years. |
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#10 |
UNUSUAL DECEMBER HEAT |
December 8-12,
2007
|
Southerly flow of warm humid air over a 5 day period gave the area an
unusual stretch of record warm temperatures for December. Several
record high temperatures and record warm minimum temperatures were set
during this period. In fact, Alexandria tied their all-time
December record high temperature of 83� on four of those five days
(three of which were consecutive!). |
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