Houston, Texas

... Warmest August on record for the cities of Houston... College
Station and Galveston...

... Warmest all time average monthly temperature for the city of
Houston...

Anyone who has lived here a while is aware that Summers can be...
and usually are... hot and humid. August 2010 is one for the record
books. All four primary climate sites established their warmest
average monthly temperature for the month of August. Below is a
listing of the five warmest augusts for each of the primary
climate sites:

       Houston College Galveston Houston
                   station hobby Aprt

       87.7 2010 89.1 2010 87.3 2010 86.9 2010
       87.5 1962 88.5 1951 86.6 2005 86.4 1999
       87.1 1951 87.7 1962 86.5 2009 86.2 2009
       86.8 1999 87.6 2009 86.1 1999 85.9 1962
       86.8 1902 87.4 1988 85.8 1995 85.8 1951

The monthly average temperature was also either the warmest
average monthly temperature ever recorded or the second warmest
monthly average temperature recorded at all four primary climate
sites. Houston has never endured a month - any month - as hot as
August 2010. Below is a table with the five warmest average monthly
temperatures:

    Houston College Galveston Houston
                   station hobby Aprt

87.7 Aug 2010 89.1 Aug 2010 87.4 Jul 1875 86.9 Aug 2010
87.5 Aug 1962 89.1 Jul 2009 87.3 Aug 2010 86.7 Jul 2009
87.5 Jul 1980 88.6 Jul 1998 86.6 Aug 2005 86.6 Jul 1998
87.4 Jul 2009 88.5 Aug 1951 86.6 Jul 1996 86.4 Aug 1999
87.1 Aug 1951 87.9 Jul 1996 86.5 Aug 2009 86.2 Aug 2009

So... why the heat? A persistent upper level ridge of high pressure
remained over the Southern Plains since the end of July. The ridge
would shift ever so slightly but remained close enough to suppress
rain chances and keep clouds away. Surface dew point temperatures
were also higher than normal. Overnight low temperatures will not
fall below the dew point temperature so elevated dew points will
produced unusually warm overnight low temperatures. During August
2010... overnight low temperatures struggled to fall below 80
degrees most nights. With warm starts to the day... maximum
temperatures had no trouble climbing above the 30 year
climatological normals. The high dew points also helped to produce
very high relative humidity values. These values combined with
very warm temperatures produced high heat index values...
exceeding 110 degrees during the middle and latter half of the
month.

Here is a table with the five warmest average maximum
temperatures for the month of august:

       Houston College Galveston Houston
                   station hobby Aprt

       98.5 1999 102.1 1951 95.3 1999 96.8 1962
       98.3 1902 101.4 1913 93.0 1995 96.4 1951
       97.8 1993 101.3 2000 92.6 2010 96.1 1999
       97.6 2010 100.8 1917 92.6 1997 95.5 2010
       97.6 1909 100.7 2010 92.3 2009 95.5 2009


Below is yet another table with the five warmest average August
minimum temperatures:

       Houston College Galveston Houston
                   station hobby Aprt

       78.4 1964 77.5 2010 82.0 2010 78.3 2010
       78.2 1962 76.2 2007 81.9 1993 78.0 2007
       77.9 2010 76.1 1902 81.5 1987 76.9 2009
       77.6 1951 76.0 2009 81.3 1988 76.9 2005
       77.5 1963 75.9 1995 81.2 2005 76.9 1977


The heat wasn't the only story of the month. Rainfall... or the
lack thereof was also a player. August was a very dry month and
was on target to be one of the top five driest augusts on record.
However... scattered showers and thunderstorms on the 30th and 31st
brought some much needed rain to southeast Texas. Galveston still
recorded it's ninth driest August on record with those records
dating back to 1875. Despite the lack of rain... the U.S. Drought
monitor only has the northeast half of the area categorized as
abnormally dry.

And yet another table with data...

Site avg avg avg dep rain dep 100
         high low month days

Iah 97.6 77.9 87.7 +4.4 1.02 -2.81 3
gls 92.6 82.0 87.3 +2.9 0.52 -3.70 0
cll 100.7 77.5 89.1 +4.4 0.34 -2.29 22
hou 95.5 78.3 86.9 +2.5 1.40 -3.14 0
psx 94.8 80.1 87.4 +4.4 1.39 -1.97 1
uts 99.3 75.9 87.6 +4.4 0.18 -3.54 13
cxo 96.9 73.8 85.4 +2.1 1.79 -1.91 3
dwh 96.6 74.9 85.8 +2.9 0.70 -3.12 4
sgr 95.1 75.7 85.4 +2.3 3.58 -1.80 0
lvj 95.4 77.8 86.6 +3.3 1.24 -3.78 0
lbx 93.9 75.7 84.8 +2.4 2.60 -2.16 0
hgx 94.6 76.8 85.7 +3.7 4.33 -0.24 1

More data... here are the average temperatures from a few of our
co-op network observers:

Community avg avg avg rain warmest
                high low month August (y/n)

Anahuac 93.6 75.1 84.3 2.09 N (11th)
Alvin 93.6 74.6 84.1 0.34 N (2nd)
Baytown 94.9 79.0 87.0 1.81 N (2nd)
Bellville 98.1 74.5 86.3 1.31 y (1st)
Brenham 98.3 75.6 87.0 0.59 N (11th)
Cleveland 95.2 72.8 84.0 2.01 N (4th)
Columbus 99.2 75.2 87.2 0.23 y (1st)
Crockett 100.0 74.8 87.4 3.33 N (2nd)
Danevang 93.9 73.6 83.7 3.61 N (17th)
Freeport 93.5 79.0 86.2 2.11 N (4th)
hou port 97.4 79.5 88.5 1.40 y (1st)
Livingston 98.0 76.6 87.3 0.44 N (2nd)
Somerville 101.9 69.8 85.9 0.44 N (10th)
wash St park 99.9 71.9 85.9 0.73 N (9th)