Southeast Texas Not Urban Near Coastal Zone

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

 

 

About The Not Urban Near Coastal Zone

 

The Not Urban Near Coastal Zone defines an area along the Upper Texas Gulf Coast from about 12 miles inland to 75 miles inland in rural areas, small towns, and more northern suburbs. It is much colder than the coastal zone, and significantly colder than urban areas of Houston the same distance from the coast.

 

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.

 

NWS
NWS
NWS
NWS
AP
AP
NWS
NWS
NWS
2005-7
2004-6
97-06
1998-07
1998-07
1997-07
1997-07
2001-06
97-06
Chill
Wharton
El Campo
Danevang
League City
Angleton
Sugar Land
Liberty
Baytown 
Anahuac
below 400
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
400-599
67%
75%
50%
50%
60%
70%
60%
40%
40%
600-799
33%
25%
20%
20%
20%
0%
10%
40%
30%
800-999
0%
0%
30%
30%
20%
30%
30%
20%
30%
over 1000
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%

 

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.

 

 
NWS
AP
AP
Month of 
1998-07
1998-07
1997-07
Min Temp
League City
Angleton
Sugar Land
November
0%
0%
0%
December
25%
50%
29%
January
45%
30%
33%
February
30%
20%
33%
March
0%
0%
4%
 
Min Yearly
NWS
AP
AP
Temperature
League City
Angleton
Sugar Land
Below 17˚
0%
0%
0%
18-20
0%
10%
0%
21-23
10%
0%
14%
24-26
40%
50%
43%
27-29
30%
30%
29%
30-32
20%
10%
14%
Above 32
0%
0%
0%

 

About Frosts in the Less Urban Near Coastal Zones

 

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, it can be worthwhile to protect a single plant planted in a northwind rotected place outside. This zone has frequent mild freezes every winter with lows in the mid-twenties so many semi-tropical fruits are just possible in protected places.

 

NWS
AP
AP
 
1998-07
1998-07
1997-07
Freeze #s
League City
Angleton
Sugar Land
none
0%
0%
0%
1 or 2
20%
0%
0%
3 to 7
40%
57%
33%
8 to 12
30%
29%
67%
13 to 19
10%
14%
0%
over 19
0%
0%
0%
 
 
NWS
AP
AP
 
1998-07
1998-07
1997-07
First Frost
League City
Angleton
Sugar Land
Nov 1 to 15
0%
0%
0%
Nov 16-30
10%
20%
50%
Dec 1-15
50%
20%
33%
Dec 16-31
40%
50%
17%
Jan 1-15
0%
10%
0%
After Jan 15
0%
0%
0%
 
 
NWS
AP
AP
 
1998-07
1998-07
1997-07
Last Frost
League City
Angleton
Sugar Land
Before Dec 16
0%
0%
0%
Dec 16-31
0%
0%
14%
Jan 1-15
0%
20%
0%
Jan 16-31
20%
30%
14%
Feb 1-14
40%
0%
14%
Feb 16-29
20%
10%
29%
Mar 1-15
20%
30%
14%
Mar 16-31
0%
10%
14%
After Mar 31
0%
0%
0%