Texas likely to dodge tropical storms this year

Houston Chronicle:

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Tropical systems have caused essentially no damage to the United States, with only one storm making landfall, Florida's Tropical Storm Claudette and its 50 mph winds. Texas hasn't had so much of a whiff of the tropics this year.

Moreover, during the last 15 years of heightened Atlantic storm activity we've typically had about nine storms by this time of year, and we've had just six so far, with two hurricanes.

To be fair, more than two months remain before the official end of hurricane season on Nov. 30, and the seas remain plenty warm for low pressure systems to spin into tropical storms.

But for Texas the threat of a meaningful collision with the tropics is rapidly diminishing. Since the 1850s, only three hurricanes have made landfall in the Lone Star State after today's date, although this is the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Rita's landfall east of Sabine Pass.

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There is another factor that will likely keep the storms away. We are already experiencing cold fronts. We had one come through this week that has dropped temperatures into the 60s and another is forecast for next week. The chill of an early fall has been unusual in recent years. It is the kind of climate change that the globo warmers are always surprised by. It will also mean teh air conditioners will be getting less work this year.

What is really unusual about the weather this year is that we experienced a warmer than normal June and July with temperatures in the 100s often. August is normally the hottest, but this year it was cooler than the previous two months and September is even cooler. We may have a cold winter if this trend keeps up.