HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Many of you have expressed your concerns that we could be hit by another hurricane since it’s so early in the season. While no one can tell you with any certainty whether we’ll face another hurricane this season, ABC13’s Weather Team did take a deeper look at how many times the Lone Star State has been hit by multiple hurricanes in a single season.
Since reliable hurricane records began in 1851, there have been six seasons during which multiple hurricanes tracked through Texas: 1854, 1886, 1909, 1942, 1989, and 2008. In every one of these seasons, at least one hurricane impacted southeast Texas.
The worst season by far was 1886, when four hurricanes roared through parts of Texas. The strongest was a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall just west of Matagorda Bay, destroying the town of Indianola, which was abandoned and never rebuilt.
Interestingly, in the 1942 season, two hurricanes hit just nine days apart, with a Category 1 landfall near Crystal Beach along the Bolivar Peninsula on Aug. 21 and then a Category 3 landfall just west of Matagorda Bay on Aug. 30.
During the 1989 season, two Category 1 hurricanes made landfall along the upper Texas coastline, with Chantal hitting in August near High Island and Jerry hitting in October over Galveston. Hurricane Jerry made landfall on Oct. 15, the latest hurricane on record to make landfall in Texas.
The most recent season to have multiple hurricanes pass through Texas was in 2008 when Category 1 Dolly made landfall in south Texas and Category 2 Ike made landfall on the east end of Galveston Island.
Given the past history of multiple storms making landfall in Texas, as rare as it may be, it would be wise to keep your guard up and put any lessons learned from Beryl into practice as soon as possible, just in case another one comes this way.
