With the hottest summer on record, a rare eclipse, and an EF-3 tornado, the year 2023 made an indelible mark in the annals of Houston’s weather history.
Southeast Texas tornadoes 🌪️
On Jan. 24, several tornadoes formed in Southeast Texas. One of them prompted the National Weather Service office Houston/Galveston to declare its first Tornado Emergency.
That morning, a severe line of thunderstorms swept through Southeast Texas, generating damaging winds and spawning numerous tornadoes across the region.
In the morning hours, strong to severe thunderstorms began to form, producing powerful winds reaching up to 60 mph and intense downpours. As the day advanced, conditions became increasingly conducive to tornado formation, with a warm front gradually advancing northward into Southeast Texas. By late morning, radar observations indicated the development of several mesovortices just southwest of the Houston metro area. Around 1:45 p.m., an EF-0 tornado touched down in Fort Bend County, spanning from Needville to Thompsons. Twenty-five minutes later, another tornado formed in Brazoria County, near southwest Pearland, causing EF-0 damage. The onslaught of severe weather persisted as a stronger cell emerged in Southeast Harris County, producing a strong tornado around 2:15 p.m. near El Franco Lee Park, east of Brookside Village.
“I remember being on extended coverage with Caroline Brown and seeing a new color box pop up in the middle of the tornado-warned thunderstorm and realized the tornado was throwing up debris in the air,” KPRC 2 Meteorologist Justin Stapleton recalled. “It’s called a ‘Debris Ball detector’ and immediately when we saw that ball form, the National Weather Service issued a very rare and first time ever, ‘Tornado Emergency’ on that storm. We both knew then that this was a very dangerous situation and we sadly were going to see some significant damage when the storms passed.”
The resulting path of destruction extended east-northeast, then northeast, encompassing areas of Southeast Harris County, including Pasadena, Deer Park, and Baytown.
- Needville/Thompsons tornado: The first tornado of the day occurred in southern Fort Bend County just before 2 p.m. The tornado remained on the ground until 2:30 p.m. for a length of just over 14 miles from Needville to Thompsons and was rated by the National Weather Service as an EF-0 with an estimated peak wind of 70 mph.
- Southeast Harris County tornado: The strongest tornado of the day, it caused substantial damage in Pasadena, Baytown, and Deer Park, and prompted National Weather Service office Houston/Galveston to declare its first ever Tornado Emergency. The tornado, rated an EF-3, had a path length of 18.7 miles, an estimated maximum peak wind of 140 mph and remained on the ground for about 35 minutes. The width of the tornado was estimated to be 1000 yards, which is just over half a mile wide, according to the National Weather Service. Nearly 700 homes were damaged, with more than 400 of these homes sustaining major damage.
- Pearland tornado: This EF-0 tornado caused a path of damaged trees and fences for about 2.5 miles, and even caused some minor roof damage to a few homes., according to the National Weather Service.
- Cove tornado: After the Southeast Harris County tornado, another tornado touched down in Cove around 3 p.m. This was a short-lived tornado that only stayed on the ground for three minutes and produced EF-0 damage to trees with estimated wind speeds up to 80 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
- Nome tornado: The last tornado of the day occurred in eastern Liberty County. The tornado touched down around 3:27 p.m. and only traveled for about a minute along a 0.33 mile path. Though it was short-lived, it produced EF-2 damage with an estimated peak wind of 125 mph, according to the National Weather Service. The tornado caused significant damage to a residence in eastern Liberty County. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported.
Annular solar eclipse 😎
Texans had a front-row seat for October’s rare “ring of fire” eclipse of the sun.
The annular solar eclipse — better known as a ring of fire — briefly dimmed the skies over Texas on Oct. 14.
During the solar spectacle, the new moon passed in front of and partly obscured the sun, blotting out all but the sun’s outer rim.
The ring of fire was visible in Texas across a narrow band, starting in Denver City at about 11:41 a.m. It then swept southeast through the Permian Basin and the Hill Country to the Texas Coastal Bend, ending in Port Aransas at about 12:01 p.m. Outside of the strip, observers saw a crescent sun, or a partial solar eclipse. The closer they were to the centerline, the more of the sun was blotted out.
In the Houston metropolitan area, outside the path of annularity, the sun was about 90% obscured.
The event was a prelude to the total solar eclipse that will sweep across Mexico, the eastern half of the U.S. and Canada, in April 2024.
“The timing for the Annular eclipse could not have been better,” KPRC 2 Meteorologist Caroline Brown said. “A cold front moved through the day before the eclipse (Oct. 13) which brought rainfall and overcast skies, but by Saturday we had mostly sunny skies which made for great viewing conditions! I’m so glad we lucked out with our forecast. Hopefully we have clear skies in April for the total solar eclipse, but at least we got to see the Annular Eclipse!”
PHOTOS: See astonishing Click2Pins of the eclipse
The hottest summer in Houston’s history 🔥
Houston sweltered through its hottest summer ever measured.
Record-breaking temperatures hit Houston in June and lingered through September, part of a global heat wave that made this summer the world’s hottest since records began.
“This summer was BRUTAL,” KPRC 2 Meteorologist Caroline Brown said. “We were running out of words to describe the intense heat. We hit our all-time record high of 109 degrees TWICE in one week. It wasn’t just our high temperatures that were hot, it was our overnight lows that were extra toasty. Our normal low in July and August is in the mid-70s, but most mornings we woke up already in the 80s and humid. This means there wasn’t a single time during the day it was comfortable.”
MORE: 2023: Hands down, hottest ever
Flash drought 🏜️
In August, the Houston area experienced a flash drought due to blistering heat and below average rainfall.
The term “flash drought” refers to a drought event that develops and intensifies rapidly.
“The wild thing to think about when it comes to the hot and very dry summer of 2023 is that we were still in a fairly stout La Nina condition from 2022 into 2023,” KPRC 2 Meteorologist Justin Stapleton said. “Generally, that means an uptick in tropical activity which can lead to big soaking systems bringing much needed rainfall to the Gulf States. However, this past tropical season, we didn’t see any significant storms and aside from a big soaker around the 4th of July, very few multiple-day rain chances as well. That’s significant because heading into this winter and most of 2024, we’re in a very strong El Nino pattern. That generally brings more wet conditions for Texas but we haven’t seen any big systems yet this winter either. The on-going drought situation will be on our radar very closely over the next few months if we head into another hot summer with little rain in the ‘rainy season.’”
MORE: Unprecedented streaks of Houston’s heat and drought: By the extraordinary numbers
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