Significant Weather Events

Above: GOES 7 Visible Satellite Image at 11:01 AM CST December 23, 1989 showing snow cover over coastal Louisiana and the cold air stratocumulus clouds over the Gulf of Mexico.

A large mid to upper-level longwave trough over North America with the classic cutoff low, or “polar vortex” over Canada was present mid to late December 1989. By December 19^th and 20^th, the large mid to upper-level cutoff low moved southeast towards the Great Lakes. This allowed for deepening of the longwave trough axis over North America, roughly paralleling the Rockies to the east. This scenario allowed for a very frigid Arctic airmass over Western Canada to plunge rapidly south southeast across the Midwest to the Gulf of Mexico and eastward December 21^st through the 26^th. Very similar situation to the December 1983 Record Arctic Cold Outbreak, record low temperatures were established once again over most locations, in some cases breaking the December 1983 records.

For our region, the assault of very frigid air behind the cold front arrived late on December 21^st into the morning hours of December 22nd. Temperatures rapidly dropped into the teens just before daybreak on the 22^nd, coupled with strong northerly winds of 25 mph with gusts to 35 mph. Temperatures for the most part remained in the teens to lower 20s for the remainder of the day due to the cloud cover and cold air advection. During this time, a weak surface low along the cold front in the Gulf of Mexico formed and generated freezing rain and sleet across the Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production platforms, and 1 to 4 inches of snow across coastal Cameron, Vermilion, Iberia, and St. Mary parishes. Lingering snowfall can be seen in this closeup GOES 7 Visible Satellite Image at 11:00 AM CST December 23rd.

Temperatures continued to plummet the night of December 22^nd into the morning of December 23rd. Record low temperatures in the mid to upper single digits were recorded across Inland Southeast Texas, Central and South-Central Louisiana, with lower teens along the immediate coastal locations. These were the second coldest temperatures ever recorded for this area, only behind the Great Arctic Outbreak of February 1899. With the northerly winds of 20 to 25 mph continuing over the region, wind chill temperatures using the old formula at the time gave readings of -15° to -25°, but using todays formula would give readings -5° to -15° range. Still very frigid.

The large and very cold 1048 mb surface high over Texas slowly moved east over the region for the remainder of December 23^rd. Despite the clear sunny skies, temperatures did not rise past the mid-20s for afternoon highs. With such a cold airmass moving over the warmer Gulf of Mexico and Western Atlantic waters, cold air stratocumulus clouds prevailed just offshore the coastline over the entire Gulf of Mexico and Western Atlantic, as shown by this GOES 7 Visible Satellite Image at 11:00 AM CST December 23rd. Also noteworthy was the significantly high sea level pressures across the area, which ended up setting all-time record high sea level pressure records at the primary climate sites as follows: Alexandria, LA at 1046.7 millibars (30.91 inches); Lake Charles, LA at 1046.7 millibars (30.91 inches); Lafayette, LA at 1044.4 millibars (30.84 inches); Beaumont, TX at 1047.9 millibars (30.94 inches).

As the surface high moved slowly overhead the night of December 23^rd into the 24^th, clear skies and calm winds allowed for morning lows in the mid to upper single digits to lower teens once again across the area. Temperatures finally rose above freezing briefly Christmas Eve afternoon, having remained below freezing between 62 and 68 hours across the area. With the cold surface high still overhead and slowly moderating, temperatures Christmas morning reached the upper teens to lower 20s across the area. Temperatures finally warmed up into the 50s by Christmas afternoon.

Due to the prolonged duration of temperatures below freezing and record cold temperatures, widespread frozen pipes burst in homes and businesses, causing severe water shortages across the area. Several fatalities were recorded across Louisiana and Texas, mainly to people with unheated homes. Widespread damage to the agricultural industry, particularly to the citrus and ornamental plants. Many freshwater and saltwater lakes and bays were completely frozen over with several inches of ice thickness. Even the near shore Gulf of Mexico waters has a thin sheet of ice several miles off the beach. This caused massive fish and seafood kills, severely impacting the commercial and recreational fishing industry.

December 23, 1989 Record Low Temperatures Compiled by: xmACIS2
STATE	LOCATION	STATION TYPE	LOW
LA	ALEXANDRIA	COOP	7
LA	ALEXANDRIA ESLER FIELD	WBAN	6
LA	BOYCE 3 WNW	COOP	7
LA	BUNKIE	COOP	8
LA	CROWLEY 2 NE	COOP	9
LA	DE RIDDER	COOP	7
LA	ELIZABETH	COOP	8
LA	EUNICE	COOP	9
LA	FRANKLIN 3 NW	COOP	10
LA	GRAND COTEAU	COOP	8
LA	HACKBERRY 8 SSW	COOP	12
LA	JEANERETTE 5 NW	COOP	10
LA	JENNINGS	COOP	10
LA	LAFAYETTE	COOP	9
LA	LAFAYETTE REGIONAL AIRPORT	WBAN	9
LA	LAKE CHARLES REGIONAL AIRPORT	WBAN	11
LA	LEESVILLE	COOP	6
LA	LELAND BOWMAN LOCK	COOP	11
LA	LSU DEAN LEE RESEARCH STATION	COOP	7
LA	MORGAN CITY	COOP	10
LA	NEW IBERIA	COOP	9
LA	OBERLIN FIRE TOWER	COOP	8
LA	ROCKEFELLER WILDLIFE REFUGE	COOP	10
LA	ROSEPINE RESEARCH STATION	COOP	6
TX	BEAUMONT RESEARCH CENTER	COOP	8
TX	ORANGE 9 N	COOP	10
TX	PORT ARTHUR SE TX REGIONAL AIRPORT	WBAN	12
TX	SAM RAYBURN DAM	COOP	7
TX	TOLEDO BEND DAM	COOP	7
TX	TOWN BLUFF DAM	COOP	6

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