HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Climate of Bryan-College Station, Texas 1981MISCELLANEOUS WEATHER PHENOMENA IN BRYAN - COLLEGE STATION
Precipitation — The longest spell without rain was 51 days, August 20 -October 9, 1899. How-
ever, the 73-day period that year (July 29- October 9) recorded only 0.01". The driest 100
consecutive days occurred in 1980 (May 28- September 4) with only 0.64 ". Three months, Sep-
tember 1929, and August and October 1952 had no precipitation at all. The wettest single
day was August 26, 1947 when 9.9" fell. For two consecutive days, the record is 12.2"
(August 25 -26, 1947), and the wettest week (7 days) was June 22 -28, 1905 with 14.4 ". The
wettest month (May 1929) had only slightly more, 14.7 ". The wettest consecutive 100 days
occurred from August 1- November 8, 1974 with 30.1 ", while the greatest consecutive number
of days with rain was 9, December 30, 1972- January 7, 1973. On average, there is one 3"
rainfall and three 2" falls every year. The record for snow in one season is 8" in 1972 -73.
Temperature — The highest mean monthly maximum was in August 1951, 102.1F. Twelve
months, six each in July and August, had mean maxima of 100F or higher, with the most
recent being July 1980. The record for consecutive days of at least 100F is 26, July 29- August
23, 1917. The greatest number of 100 -plus days in one year is 58, also in 1917. For the 30-
year period 1951 -80, there has been an average of seven 100 -plus days /year. The 70 -year
period 1910 -1980 has averaged 21 days /year. The earliest seasonal occurrence of 100F was
May 31, 1911 (100F), and the latest was October 2, 1938 (102F). There have been 80 con-
secutive days of 90F or more (June 5- August 23, 1918), while an unreliable figure of 99 days
exists for 1910 (June 26- October 2). More recently 75 consecutive 90's occurred in 1963 (July
1- September 13). The greatest number of days in one year to reach 90F was 150 in 1925,
while the fewest was 67 in 1968. During the period 1951 -80, the average has been 102 days/
year, however since 1964 this average has been reduced to 88 days /year. The season's earliest
90F occurred March 8, 1911 (92F), and the latest was November 16, 1921 (90F). In 1975, the
hottest day of the year was 96F, the lowest annual extreme high temperature on record here.
The hottest spell was August 13 -17, 1951 with the maximum each day between 105F and
108F. The coldest daytime maximum was 19F on January 10, 1962.
Only 8 times has the low temperature dropped below 10F. These were: —3F (1949);
OF and 2F (1930); 5F (1918 and 1951); 7F (1973 —most recent date with temperature below
10F); 8F (1940); and 9F (1930). All these instances occurred between January 12 and Feb -
bruary 2. In addition, during the 70 years of reliable records, there have been 92 nights below
20F. The longest freezing spell (day and night) was 4 days: December 19 -22, 1929 and also
January 9 -12, 1973. The longest spell with overnight freezing temperatures was 14 days,
January 15 -28, 1940. Freezing temperatures have occurred four times in October and five
times in April. Oddly, until 1977, February 27 never had a freeze. Overnight lows of 80F
and 81 F have been recorded 43 times, the earliest on May 8 and the latest October 8. Over-
night lows of 70F or more have occurred in all months.
Additional Facts — The greatest 24 -hour temperature drop in this area is about 60F. Two
recent extreme occurrences were 56F (80 to 24) on February 29 -March 1, 1980, and 55F (72
to 17) on February 10 -11, 1981. No winter seasons have passed without a freezing tempera-
ture. The winter of 1931 -32 came closest with the only freezes occurring in March 1932.
Overall, 16 individual winter months (December- February) have had no freezing temperatures:
4 times in December (1971 was most recent), once in January (1932), and 11 times in Feb-
ruary (1959 most recently).
STATION HISTORY
Rainfall and temperature observation began on the campus of Texas A. & M. College in
May 1882. Records were sporadic from 1882 to 1907, and no records are in existence for 1908
and 1909. Reliable records are continuous since 1910. The station was relocated to the Texas
Agricultural Experiment Station main farm, seven miles southwest of the College Station post
office, in January 1954, then closed April 30, 1958. Rainfall and temperature observations
also were taken in Bryan, at 2310 23rd Street, from September 1, 1913 to March 31, 1947. A
weather station was established at the College Station FAA Airport (then called Bryan CAA
Airport) in August 1951. The averages given in this climatological summary are from the Col-
lege Station FAA Airport Station, now known as Easterwood A. P., but extremes and other
data are from all sources. Daily temperature and precipitation data are published monthly in
Climatological Data- Texas. Station index number: 41- 1889 -04.
THE CLIMATE OF BRYAN - COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
John F. Griffiths, State Climatologist
Robert F. Strauss, Graduate Assistant to the State Climatologist
Prepared by
Office of the State Climatologist
Department of Meteorology
Texas A &M University
College Station, Texas 77843
December 1981
Latitude 30 35'
RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURE ( ° F)
AVG. DAILY MAX. TEMPERATURE ( °F)
AVERAGE TEMPERATURE ( °F) •
AVG. DAILY MIN. TEMPERATURE ( ° F) *
RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE ( °F)
NO. DAYS WITH MAX X90 °F *
NO. DAYS WITH MIN <32 ° F
RELATIVE HUMIDITY ( %)
GREATEST TOTAL PRECIPITATION (in.)
AVERAGE PRECIPITATION (in.)
ACCUMULATED PRECIPITATION (in.)
LEAST TOTAL PRECIPITATION (in.)
MAXIMUM DAILY PRECIPITATION (in.)
AVERAGE HOURS OF RAIN
NO. OF DAYS PRECIPITATION 0.10"
NO. OF THUNDERSTORM DAYS
AVERAGE SNOWFALL (in.)
RECORD MAXIMUM SNOWFALL (in.)
PAN EVAPORATION (in.)
AVERAGE WIND SPEED (mph)
PREVAILING WIND DIRECTION
AVERAGE HOURS SUNSHINE /DAY
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (Base 65F)
COOLING DEGREE DAYS (Base 65F)
SUNRISE, 21st DAY (CST)
SUNSET, 21st DAY (CST)
MAX. ALTITUDE OF SUN ON 21st (degrees)
COLLEGE STATION CLIMATOLOGICAL DATA
Longitude 96 21 Elevation (Ground) 314 ft.
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC ANNUAL
86 89 96 96 100 106 110 108 105 102 94 89 110
59 63 71 78 85 91 95 95 89 81 69 62 78
49 53 60 68 75 81 85 84 79 70 59 52 68
39 43 49 58 65 71 74 73 69 58 48 42 57
-3 5 17 28 42 53 58 58 42 29 19 14 -3
0 0 0.1 0.4 6 21 27 28 16 3 0 0 102
9 5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 23
75 73 70 76 75 72 68 66 71 68 67 70 71
11.0 7.3 8.3 12.5 14.7 12.6 7.1 12.7 12.0 12.3 9.3 12.6 61.0
2.5 3.0 2.4 4.3 4.4 3.2 2.4 2.3 4.9 3.4 3.3 3.0 39.1
2.5 5.5 7.9 12.2 16.6 19.8 22.2 24.5 29.4 32.8 36.1 39.1 -
.07 .01 .29 .30 .12 .04 .06 0 0 0 .06 .10 16.7
3.0 3.8 4.2 5.2 4.3 6.0 5.1 9.9 5.2 5.1 3.6 7.5 9.9
75 76 60 46 41 17 23 25 29 26 50 76 544
5 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 6 4 5 5 57
2 4 3 6 6 3 7 5 6 3 2 3 50
0.3 0.1 T 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 T 0.1 0.5
6.0 5.0 T 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 5.0 8.0
2.1 2.4 3.9 4.4 5.6 6.2 7.2 7.1 5.5 4.4 3.0 2.3 54.1
5 5 6 5 4 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4
SIN S S S S S S S S S/N S/N S/N S
5 6 7 8 9 10 10 11 9 8 6 5 8
467 326 223 29 0 0 0 0 0 31 197 385 1658
9 15 53 137 316 492 601 611 417 189 29 7 2876
7:22 7:01 6:29 5:52 5:28 5:23 5:36 5:55 6:13 6:31 6:56 7:18
5:51 6:17 6:37 6:56 7:16 7:31 7:27 7:03 6:25 5:49 5:26 5:28
40 50 60 72 80 83 81 72 60 50 40 37
* Observations from Easterwood A. P. and based on the period 1951 -1980
THE CLIMATE OF BRYAN- COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS
Bryan is located in the area where Stephen F. Austin's colonists
settled between 1821 -1831. The city was formally chartered in 1855.
Bryan is the county seat of Brazos County. Since the mid- 1960's, ex-
panded growth has come from the development of energy resources with
100 oil and gas wells completed in 1978. The area also lies in a band of
near - surface lignite deposits. The region possesses ample water resources
and is located within a triangle formed by three major Texas markets.
Hunting, fishing and camping are popular almost year -round in nearby
streams and woodlands.
Along with Bryan, College Station is growing rapidly and the two
cities had a combined population of about 90,000 in 1980. Unemployment
is among the lowest in the United States. College Station is the munici-
pality adjacent to Texas A &M University. The school was Texas' first
state - supported institution of higher learning, established in 1876. Coed-
ucational, the university currently enrolls more than 35,000 students, and
was the fastest growing university in the nation during the past decade.
Texas A &M has the largest university research budget in Texas -$84
million in 1980 -81. The university is world- renowned for the quality of its
scientific and technical programs and its engineering, agriculture and
veterinary medicine enrollments are the largest in the nation.
The climate of the Bryan - College Station area is humid subtropic-
al with hot summers. Maritime Tropical air masses control the climate of
the region during the spring, summer and fall seasons. During the winter
and early spring, frequent surges of Polar Canadian air cause sudden drops
in temperature and add considerable variety to the daily weather. There is
a wide range between average annual extremes, from 18F to 103F, charac-
teristic of a continental environment. Total annual precipitation averages
39.1 inches, fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. A total of 61.0
inches fell in 1968, the wettest year of record; only 16.7 inches fell in
1917, the driest year.
The prevailing winds at Bryan and College Station are southerly
the year- round. The strongest persistent winds occur in March and April.
Mean relative humidity, at noon C.S.T., is estimated at 62 percent in
January, 62 percent in April, 51 percent in July and 53 percent in October.
T = Trace
In an average year, the area receives an estimated 48 percent of the total
possible sunshine in winter, 55 percent in spring, 74 percent in summer and
67 percent in fall.
Winter: Temperatures are mild and periods of cold weather usually
do not last longer than two or three days. There is often considerable
cloudiness in the morning with the overcast breaking up in the early
afternoon. Precipitation most often falls in the form of light, steady rain.
Snows are quite rare and years may pass without so much as a trace. When
snow does occur, it usually melts as it falls, with little or no accumulation
on the ground. The lowest temperature on record is -3F, and occurred
January 31, 1949.
Spring: This season furnishes a variety of weather, particularly in
March. Warm and cool spells of short duration follow each other in
rapid succession. Thundershower acitvity increases significantly in April
and reaches peak frequency in May. Occasionally late spring or early
summer thunderstorms are accompanied by damaging winds.
Summer: Daytime temperatures are hot, and except for an occa-
sional thundershower, there is little variety in the day-to-day weath-
er. Early morning and evening temperatures are normally pleasant but
mid -day temperatures generally are too hot and the relative humidity too
high for much outdoor recreational activity, except water sports. The
hottest temperature every recorded was 110F on July 11, 1917. Fortun-
ately, most businesses and newer homes in the area are centrally air -con-
ditioned.
Fall: Temperatures continue rather warm through September.
Precipitation increases as cool fronts begin to penetrate the area once again
and an occasional tropical depression moves northwestward from the Gulf
of Mexico. Moderate temperatures, low wind speeds and long uninter-
rupted periods of fair weather make the fall season ideally suited for all
types of outdoor activities except swimming.
The warm season (freeze -free period) in the Bryan - College Station
area is 268 days. The mean date of the last occurrence of 32F or below in
the spring, and the first occurrence of 32F or below in the fall, are March 5
and November 28, respectively.