Houston, TX – Let's get April out of the way although, admittedly, we had some stellar weekends and lovely bluebonnet viewing this past month!
NWS Climate data shows our rainfall measured right on target at 3.36" and so did the average temperature at 69.7°. Highest temp: 91 on the 10th, Lowest temp: 37 on the 2nd.
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Severe weather outbreaks included hail around the region on 4/3 and 4/6 with tornadoes in Harris and Montgomery Counties on 4/7. Another tornado occurred on 4/13 in Houston COUNTY, with another on 4/24 in Bryan (this was the same day the tornadoes hit San Augustine in East Texas).
Lots of tree damage this past month in our area!
And April proved a big month for records across the country, from Mississippi tornado outbreaks to snow in Chicago and rain in North Carolina. If you like weather extremes, take a look at the tally from Weather Underground here!
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May is likely to continue with severe weather and hurricane season is right around the corner, or is it?!
June 1 to November 30th is the traditional season, but those are just dates and a recent study shows that 3.8% of tropical storms form before June! In fact, in the past four years we've had Alberto in May of 2018, Arlene in April of 2017, Alex in January of 2016 and Bonnie in May of 2016, with Ana in May of 2015. From 2003 - 2018 there have been 10 named storms before the June 1 season started! So don't be too married to the dates. The warm water and light winds don't necessarily have to be in place for tropical formation!
Most early tropical systems form in the Atlantic, not the Gulf.
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Texas A&M research regarding Harvey's rapid intensification all boils down to warm water to greater depths. Harvey went from a Tropical Storm to a Cat 4 hurricane in just about 30 hours:
The water only needs to be 80F for tropical systems to form and the Gulf was plenty warm:
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Finally, a big thank you to Britni McAshan and TMC Pulse magazine of the Texas Medical Center for a stellar feature on the gold nanoparticle therapy that treated my prostate cancer. I've had lots of questions about Aurolase and this explains just what the nanoparticles are, what they do, and how they helped me. The procedure found cancer in areas that a radical surgery would not have and I'd eventually have been in line for radiation to fight the leftover cancer....if I had found that before it spread. I'm so grateful to have been a candidate for Aurolase and can't emphasize enough how important it is for men to get their PSA tested. The full article
Cheers!
Frank