Southeast Texas Urban Near Coastal Zone

Weather Data for Southeast Texas
By Bob Randall,Ph.D.
Fall 2007

 

 

About The Urban Near Coastal Zone

 

The Urban Near Coastal Zone defines an area along the Upper Texas Gulf Coast from about 12 miles inland to 75 miles inland in built-up urban areas in the City of Houston and the more southern suburbs. It is colder than the coastal zone, but otherwise quite warm. There are no good data for the warmest parts of the City of Houston such as Hermann Park, Rice Village, Montrose and Thrid Ward. Spot data from amateur sites suggests that these areas are warmer than Hobby Airport and colder than Galveston Airport.

 

About Chill

 

The first table below describes chill. Chill is a measurement useful in determining which temperate climate fruit trees (and other temperate plants) will do well in a local winter. Temperate climate plants have ways to go dormant in winter and wake in spring, and have mechanisms for counting chill units during winter so they will "awaken" after the worst cold and soon enough to produce leaves, flowers and fruit in spring. This far south, chill is calculated from average January temperatures.

 

Chill

Hobby

1997-2007

Pearland

2001-7
Port Houston 1997-06
Meyerland Amateur WS 2003-7
Bush IAH AP 1997-2007
< 200 units
200-399
20%
17%
20%
40%
10%
400-599
50%
50%
40%
20%
40%
600-799
10%
17%
30%
20%
20%
800-999
20%
17%
10%
20%
30%

 

About Yearly Low Temperatures

 

The next two tables describe experiences with yearly low temperatures. The low temperature for the year defines in an important way how well tropical and semi-tropical plants will survive. Many varieties of healthy citrus trees will survive 22˚ with no damage, while papayas have trouble below 30˚ and mangoes at 26˚. There are other issues related to this--how dormant the plant is, how healthy it is, how many hours the temperature stays at this number, and how thick the trees limbs are. The first table below describes the month of the year's lowest temperature and the second table describes what the temperature was.

 

Month of 
Hobby 1997-2007
Pearland 2001-7
Bush IAH AP 1997-2007
Min Temp
November
17%
17%
25%
December
50%
42%
45%
January
33%
42%
20%
February
0%
0%
10%
March
0%
0%
0%
 
Minimum Yearly Temperature
Hobby 1997-2007
Pearland 2001-7
Bush IAH AP 1997-2007
Below 18
0%
0%
0%
18-20
0%
17%
10%
21-23
11%
17%
40%
24-26
56%
50%
30%
27-29
33%
17%
20%
Above 29˚
0%
0%
0%

 

About Frosts in the Dense Urban Near Coastal Counties

 

Knowing when the first and last freezes of the winter will occur at a location helps gardeners in many ways. If some of ones plants may be damaged, one can be ready to protect them. The number of frosts over the entire winter, by contrast, gives a measure of how frequently one may need to protect something. If you typically have 30 freezes, it is probably foolish to grow either papayas or tomatoes outside except in a hoop greenhouse. But if there are typically only one or two frosts or none as is the case in the more built up areas of Houston, it can be worthwhile to protect a single plant planted in a northwind rotected place outside.

 

Freeze #s
Hobby AP 1997-2007
Pearland AP 2001-7
Bush IAH AP 1997-2007
none
0%
0%
0%
1 or 2
63%
17%
0%
3 to 7
38%
67%
63%
8 to 12
0%
17%
12%
13 to 19
0%
0%
25%
Above 19
0%
0%
0%
 
First Frost
Hobby 1997-2007
Pearland AP 2001-7
Bush IAH AP 1997-2007
Nov 1 to 15
0%
0%
10%
Nov 16-30
0%
0%
20%
Dec 1-15
22%
50%
40%
Dec 16-31
22%
33%
30%
Jan 1-15
22%
0%
0%
Jan 16-31
22%
17%
0%
after Feb 1
11%
0%
0%
None
0%
0%
0%
 
Last Frost
Hobby 1997-2007
Pearland AP 2001-7
Bush IAH AP 1997-2007
None
0%
0%
0%
Before Dec 1
0%
0%
0%
Dec 1-15
11%
0%
0%
Dec 16-31
11%
17%
0%
Jan 1-15
11%
0%
0%
Jan 16-31
22%
0%
10%
Feb 1-14
11%
33%
40%
Feb 16-29
22%
17%
20%
Mar 1-15
11%
33%
30%
Mar 16-31
0%
0%
0%