Austin has such a bizarre climate. I think I'm just now figuring it out after all these years. (Houston: 2015, how much)

[VIRAL]

Originally Posted by cBach

The 1950's "Dust Bowl" affected Central Texas. Lake Travis has its lowest levels on record recorded during that time period.

So it was not always the case that in the past time periods summer rainfall was more frequent. I think it varied just as much as it does now, with El Nino years favoring precip and La Nino years favoring drought.

I was only comparing last decade to this present one. Nevertheless, those droughts were highly unusual for Central Texas; the region normally isn't this dry during summer.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by VIRAL

Central Texas isn't all that dry; there are normally decent amounts of rain annually (around the same as many Midwestern cities), just that recent years have been drier than normal for the region.

I don't think the statement was that it is dry now, but that in general it's basically feast or famin. Think Memorial Day rain, summer with a few rainy days then the Halloween rain and dry...

[VIRAL]

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

I don't think the statement was that it is dry now, but that in general it's basically feast or famin. Think Memorial Day rain, summer with a few rainy days then the Halloween rain and dry...

I was referring to the rainfall frequency; I still don't think the Central Texas climate normally is all that "feast or famine" in regards to rainfall. There normally is many days of decent rainfall, just that the recent droughts are skewing things.

[cBach]

Originally Posted by VIRAL

I was referring to the rainfall frequency; I still don't think the Central Texas climate normally is all that "feast or famine" in regards to rainfall. There normally is many days of decent rainfall, just that the recent droughts are skewing things.

Look at the historical levels of Lake Travis and you'll see the droughts and rainy weather quite clearly. It really is feast or famine.

[VIRAL]

Originally Posted by cBach

Look at the historical levels of Lake Travis and you'll see the droughts and rainy weather quite clearly. It really is feast or famine.

Yes, these weather cycles happen (they happen everywhere on Earth, to an extent). But, still, it stands that the typical climate in Central Texas, as it pertains to rainfall, does have quite a bit of consistency, and isn't constant feast/famine yearly.

[VIRAL]

Another interesting pattern is the prominent spring peak in rainfall seen in the I-35 corridor vs a stronger summer rainfall pattern along the state's Gulf Coast.

Austin, Dallas and San Antonio all record more frequent amounts of rainy days in the Spring than Central Houston, Beaumont, and Corpus do (seen especially with the month of May). On the other hand, the rainfall is high in frequency along the coast during summer, and is even the time of peak occurrence, on average (especially for Central Houston and Beaumont, which are wet throughout the summer); the southerly part of the coast stays dry early on during summer, but rainfall picks up from mid August through September, corresponding with the tropical Mexican rainy season.

[cBach]

Speaking of weather cycles, apparently La Nino is in full swing now. Expect hot weather to extend well into the fall, possibly October, with a very warm and dry winter. Next spring is supposed to be dry as well and then the summer is normally dry anyway.

It's good the lakes are full because we are going to need them full for this stretch. We could be looking at record low water levels in Lake Travis in a year or so.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by cBach

We could be looking at record low water levels in Lake Travis in a year or so.

It takes a few years to get down to seriously low levels, probably even a little longer with the new water release policies. If record lows do occur (presumably due to another drought period), it will likely take 4 years or so to get there.

It does look like the highland lakes area could be headed in for another dry spell:
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/product...on_drought.png

[Rynldsbr]

[quote=Weatherguy;44994083]Austin has sort of a midwestern climate as far as moisture and rainfall. We have about the same precip amount annually as places like Chicago and Minneapolis. Of course, their winters are extremely cold and ours aren't.quote]
Some of the similarities can be attributed to the great lakes and their impact on moisture levels and temperature zones along the lakes. "Lake effect" isn't just snow, but also temperature impacts, airflow...you probably know more than I do from a scientific standpoint.


One significant difference from WI/Chicago/Minneapolis weather to what we see here that I have observed is the weather in the Great Lakes region is almost always from the west or northwest. Central TX weather observation requires identifying which way is it coming from? There are significant variances in the patterns and origins of the weather here that are not found there.

[VIRAL]

Originally Posted by cBach

Speaking of weather cycles, apparently La Nino is in full swing now. Expect hot weather to extend well into the fall, possibly October, with a very warm and dry winter. Next spring is supposed to be dry as well and then the summer is normally dry anyway.

It's good the lakes are full because we are going to need them full for this stretch. We could be looking at record low water levels in Lake Travis in a year or so.

La Nina increases hurricane activity in the Atlantic basin, so that allows greater chance for tropical relief in Texas during summer, in case winter and spring fail to deliver.

In any rate, this is a problem for inland Texas anyways. East Texas and the coast tend to ride out from these nonsensical droughts.