High tides rolling in across Galveston Island and Bolivar Peninsula and a hurricane in the Gulf with a three-lettered name beginning with an "I". Though the two events weren't directly related, it certainly was enough to give some Ike-survivors a touch of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

A few facts about tropical storms and hurricanes in November may have helped alleviate those fears to some degree.

First, while tropical storms or hurricanes are not unusual in November, with one appearing on almost every other year on average, a named storm has never struck the upper-Texas coast during the month (with reliable records going back to 1851).

Second, most tropical storms that do make landfall in the U.S. during the month of November end up striking Florida.

Third, while hurricanes do appear in the Tropical Atlantic Basin in about one out of every five Novembers, only four have made landfall on the U.S. mainland with hurricane intensity since 1900. All hit Florida.

Fourth, there have been 7 major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher) known to form in the Atlantic Basin during November. None have hit the U.S. mainland.

The last major November hurricane was Hurricane Paloma last year, which attained Category 4 status briefly before striking Cuba as a destructive Category 2. Remnants of the storm did cause some flooding in Florida, but it was no longer an organized system.

Probably the most threatening November hurricane as far as the Texas coast goes was Hurricane Jeanne, which formed in the western Caribbean on November 7, 1980, not far from where Ida developed. By November 11, Jeanne suddenly turned west in the central Gulf of Mexico and intensified briefly into a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100-mph. This sudden move in the general direction of Texas with a projected long-term turn to the northwest put the upper-Texas coast at risk. At that point, gale warnings were issued for the northwest Gulf Coast from Port O'Connor, Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi. By the November 13, however, a high pressure system to the north shifted east, wind shear levels increased, and Jeanne suddenly weakened. As Jeanne continued to weaken a cold front pushed into the Gulf from the west and by November 16, the system had dissipated completely, though high tides of 2-4 feet above normal still visited the Texas coast.

So, at least from a historical and climatological point of view, named storms are exceedingly unlikely to visit the upper-Texas coast, in part due to cooler Gulf waters in the northwest Gulf of Mexico and to typical upper-level wind patterns this late in the season, which enhance wind shear and tend to steer any storms far to our east.

So, for me, November is a very fine month indeed for those of us residing in the Galveston area!

Below are some links to maps on hurricane probabilities and patterns for November as well as tracks for Hurricane Jeanne in 1980 and Hurricane Paloma, last year:

Probablity of a Named Storm in November

Hurricane Jeanne Track, 1980

Hurricane Paloma Track, 2008