posted by admin on Jan 24
The climatology of Shreveport is transitional, between the subtropical humid regime prevalent in the south to the continental climates of the Great Plains and Midwest to the north. During winter, cold Canadian air masses periodically move through the area. Spring and fall are usually mild and pleasant, but occasionally stormy. Summer is consistently hot and humid, dominated by high pressure and a moist, southerly surface flow (NCDC, 2006). Shreveport’s Prevailing Winds and their Influences on Climatology As is the case with many locations near the Gulf Coast, prevailing surface winds in Shreveport are generally from the south throughout much of the year, although strong cold fronts, common from November through March, generate periods of northwest to north winds across the city. These north winds quickly veer back around to the south after a few days, causing the influence of cold, arctic air masses to be relatively short-lived. Sustained wind speeds are also strongest during the late fall/winter/springtime months (November through May), again associated with the passing of these cold frontal systems. During this period, speeds average from 9 to 10 mph. Wind speeds are generally lightest during the summer months. High pressure both at the surface and aloft dominates much of the south during the summer, preventing upper level troughs associated with cold fronts from reaching the area. Shreveport’s prevailing south winds influence local climatology in a variety of ways. Drawn northward from the Gulf of Mexico, they provide a steady supply of warm, moist air to the city, which is partly responsible for enabling afternoon shower and thunderstorm development, especially during the summer months. The influx of gulf moisture from these winds is responsible for severe thunderstorm outbreaks when this moisture collides with incoming cold fronts across northwest Louisiana, southwest Arkansas, and northeast Texas during the fall, winter, and springtime months. Warm air transported northward from the Gulf of Mexico can also inhibit temperature minimums at night, especially if winds do not subside, or if cloud cover develops. In most situations during the year and in the absence of strong surface and synoptic systems, Shreveport’s prevailing winds will maintain enough of a moisture balance to stabilize afternoon temperatures, and maintain a general persistence and consistency in maximum/minimum temperatures and relative humidities from one day to the next.
posted by admin on Jan 15
The Caddo Indians had agreed to sell their lands, and a group of developers bought the land near Bennett and Cane’s with the idea of building a town now that the Red River was open that far north. Shreve himself soon became involved with the investors who were planning to build the town, and it was decided the name of the new development would be Shreve Town (McCall, 1988). In 1838 Caddo Parish was established and Shreve Town became the parish seat. However, once steamboats from New Orleans began arriving regularly, the town name was changed to and incorporated as Shreveport on March 20, 1839 (Brock, 2006). The battle against the Red River was ongoing. Due to spotty maintenance, the Raft periodically reformed in areas, as the photo from 1873 shows below (Figure 1). Also, the rise of the railroads caused traffic on the river to wane, and by 1914 silt made the waterway un-navigable. These problems were eventually resolved, and today the port of Shreveport-Bossier City is being developed as a shipping center (Brock, 2006). During the Civil War, Shreveport was a Confederate stronghold and the headquarters of the Trans-Mississippi Department of the Confederate Army. Shreveport briefly became Louisiana’s Confederate capital when Baton Rouge was captured by Union forces (Wikipedia, 2007).
Shreveport became a major energy center when oil was discovered just north of the city in 1905. Standard Oil moved its headquarters here in the early 20th century, but the industry suffered a major downturn in the 1980s causing many related companies to close or cutback. As a result Shreveport suffered the loss of many residents and a decline in property value. It wasn’t until the legalization of riverboat gambling in the mid 1990s that a revitalization of the downtown and riverfront areas began, and the metro area has continued to experience growth to the present day (Wikipedia, 2007). Shreveport is also home of the “Independence Bowl,” a post-season college football bowl game. The first game was played on December 13, 1976. The name was chosen because of the bicentennial, and the strong military presence in the Shreveport-Bossier City area. Although Hurricane Katrina moved onshore in southeast Louisiana and southwest Mississippi in August, 2005 Shreveport was largely unaffected by the hurricane. However, many evacuees from southern Louisiana did come to the area. Since Shreveport is approximately 180 miles (290 km) inland, some New Orleans residents and businesses relocated to the Shreveport area to avoid the inconvenience of possible hurricanes in the future.
posted by admin on Jan 7
Shreveport was founded in 1836 by the Shreve Town Company, a development corporation established to build a town at the meeting point of the Red River and the Texas Trail (Brock, 2006).
Prior to that, the Red River was impassable due to a logjam over 100 miles long called “The Great Raft.” The Great Raft grew at the upper end faster than it decayed or washed out at the lower end (Mussulman, 1998). In 1828 the Great Raft extended from Loggy Bayou, 65 miles below Shreveport, to Hurricane Bluffs, 27 miles above Shreveport. Congress decided to fund the removal of the Raft, although there were doubts that such a feat was possible. Henry Miller Shreve, a steamboat builder and river captain, had invented a “snag boat” for the purpose of removing river debris. He achieved success clearing other waterways, and was convinced he could clear the Great Raft. After gaining Congressional approval, Shreve began systematically removing the Raft, beginning near Natchitoches, Louisiana on April 10, 1833. On June 23, work stopped for the summer upon reaching a trading post known as Bennett and Cane’s. Seventy miles of the Great Raft had been removed in under three months (McCall, 1988).
posted by admin on Jan 1
Shreveport, Louisiana is located just west of the Red River, opposite Bossier City in northwestern Louisiana, approximately 30 miles south of the Arkansas border and 15 miles east of the Texas border. The city’s terrain runs from the Red River bottom lands westward to the gently rolling hills that begin about one mile west of the river. Elevations in Shreveport range from about 170 to 280 feet above mean sea level (NCDC, 2006). The National Weather Service Office is located at the Shreveport Regional Airport, which is eight miles southwest of the downtown area.
Overview of Modern Shreveport
Shreveport is the third largest city and the third largest metropolitan area in Louisiana. It is located in Caddo Parish, the northwesternmost parish in the state, whose borders include the Texas and Arkansas state lines. The area is intersected by Interstate Highways I-20 (which connects Louisiana with Texas) and I-49 (which when completed will connect Louisiana with Arkansas). Shreveport is also the proposed hub for I-69 (the so-called NAFTA Highway) which will connect eastern Texas and southern Arkansas to northwest Louisiana. Thus Shreveport is considered the commercial and cultural center of the Ark-La-Tex. As of 2004, the U. S. Census Bureau listed the city’s population as 198,675, and the Shreveport-Bossier City Metropolitan Area population as exceeding 375,000. Many people in the community refer to the two cities of Shreveport and Bossier City, which are separated only by the Red River, as “Shreveport-Bossier”. The city of Shreveport has a total area of 117.8 mi², consisting of 103.1 mi² of land and 14.6 mi² of water. According to the 2000 census, the racial makeup of the city was 50.80% African American, 46.66% White, 0.79% Asian, 0.31% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.45% from other races, and 0.95% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race comprised 1.55% of the population (Wikipedia, 2007).
