Month: July 2018

Rain ending, street flooding continues in Houston

The worst of the rain is now over as of early this afternoon in Houston. Heavier rains have migrated west toward the Sealy area, which has seen 1-3″ of rainfall over the last hour or two.

A Flash Flood Warning remains in effect there. Houston’s Flash Flood Warnings will expire soon, but with street flooding likely to continue, travel within the city through the late afternoon is discouraged. We’d advise people to just stay put through late day if possible. Road and weather conditions will improve this evening.

While weather conditions will generally improve area-wide this afternoon and evening, there will still be a few showers and storms scattered about the region. So I can’t promise the evening will be entirely dry. But it should be mostly cleared out. Still, a sub-optimal July 4th overall.

No change in thinking from earlier this morning regarding tomorrow and into the weekend, as additional showers and storms will be possible each day.

Total rainfall from this storm will top 8″ in parts of Houston, centered just west of downtown.

4-8″ of rain has fallen in much of central Houston, with 1-4″ surrounding the city, though with pockets of higher amounts south and east. (Harris County Flood Control)

On average about 4-8″ inside the Loop and down near Clear Lake. Surrounding that, about 1-4″ fell. Most bayous are in their banks, but a few have come out in spots, exacerbating flooding in those neighborhoods. You can see rain totals and inundation maps from Harris County Flood Control here.

Unless something changes, that’s it for today, and we’ll be back with more in the morning.

 

Widespread street flooding in Houston

Quick mid-morning update for you. Heavy rains on the order of 2-4″ per hour have led to widespread, and in some cases, serious street flooding in the city of Houston and areas southeast and just west. A flash flood warning is in effect for much of the city through Noon, and I suspect it will be extended through early afternoon.

Rainfall of 2-5″ over a good chunk of Houston, much of it in a short time, has led to widespread street flooding in the area. (Harris County Flood Control)

Rain isn’t in much of a hurry to exit the city of Houston. Expect heavy rain over the next 2-3 hours through Midday.

We continue to think the rains will exit this afternoon. But there will be some heartburn between now and then. Our best advice is to just stay put and off the roads for awhile in Houston.

See our morning post for more.

We’ll tackle questions in the comments as time permits.

Showers, storms dampen the daytime Fourth in Houston

Good morning, and happy birthday America! It’s a damp one for many of us this morning, though I imagine some others are asking if it will ever rain at their homes. Let’s walk through the forecast.

Now & this morning

As of 8:15 AM, radar shows pockets of heavy rain and thunderstorms gradually pivoting toward Houston from the east. Areas west of the city have seen little rain since yesterday. Eventually some of this will indeed get there.

Areas of heavy rain and embedded thunderstorms are mainly impacting the eastern half of the Houston metro area this morning. This should gradually advance west through the morning. (College of DuPage)

So through about midday, expect rain to become more frequent in the area. The heaviest will continue to hug the coast south and east of Houston.

Rain totals to this point have been manageable, though there has been almost 1.5″ of rain in the last hour along Vince Bayou in Pasadena. An urban flood advisory is posted for southeast Harris, Galveston, Chambers, and eastern Brazoria Counties until 11:45 AM, meaning street flooding is likely in spots.

Total rainfall since last night has been minor in most places, with the notable exceptions southeast of the city. (Harris County Flood Control)

As rain slowly winds through the area this morning, be prepared for more pockets of localized street flooding in areas of poor drainage, along frontage roads, etc., especially south and east of Houston, where it has rained more and is raining harder. We aren’t expect anything too significant today, but be aware of street flooding potential and never drive through a flooded road. We’ll keep you posted if things escalate.

Timing the end of the rain

So expect periods of showers, heavy rain, and thunderstorms for much of this morning and early afternoon, especially southeast of Houston. When does it end? Model guidance has slowed things down a bit unfortunately. The good news is that the heaviest, most concentrated rains should be west of the area by about 2-4 PM. There will be isolated, hit or miss downpours still around the region however through 6-8 PM. I still think most evening events should go off without a ton of issues, but you may want to include an umbrella (assuming that’s allowed at your event) with your other items if you’ll be out and about.

Rain summary

So just to sum things up:

  • Heaviest rains south and east of Houston this morning, with rain rates of 1-3″ per hour possible at times.
  • Rains will expand north and west and everyone should get at least some rain.
  • Localized street flooding is likely in spots, again mainly south and east of Houston.
  • The steadiest rain should taper off this afternoon, but scattered showers will remain in spots (not everywhere) through early evening.

See full post

First round of storms ending southeast of Houston

A somewhat surprisingly wild evening south and east of Houston tonight. As I’m writing this, strong to severe thunderstorms are clobbering Galveston and Jamaica Beach, heading offshore. Lingering storms continue to the west from Texas City across League City into Pearland and Missouri City.

Radar as of 9:15 PM showed heavy rain along the coast, with lingering storms inland south of I-10. (GR Level 3)

Total rainfall has been impressive near NASA, Shoreacres, and El Lago, with three inches falling in an hour in a few spots.

Total rainfall as of 9:15 PM was on the order of 1-4″ in a small area near Johnson Space Center. (Harris County Flood Control)

That has prompted a flash flood warning until 11:45 in that area. Use caution if you’re traveling in that region, as some residual street flooding could occur through midnight.

The storms also produced some awesome skies in the Houston area.

So what’s next?

Weather modeling is actually in decent agreement that this cluster of storms will move offshore and fester for much of the night, before we see things rekindle onshore toward sunrise. Showers and storms should increase in coverage after 3-5 AM as our disturbance swings into Texas. We’ll probably be at peak for coverage of showers and storms in the morning, before everything shifts toward San Antonio in the afternoon.

The best chances and coverage of storms will likely be south of I-10 tomorrow.

So bottom line for the Fourth of July:

  • Heavy rain in the morning, especially south of I-10.
  • More flash flooding of streets possible in the JSC/Webster/Seabrook area.
  • Storms will be noisy with potentially a good deal of lightning once again.
  • Rain ends from east to west by early afternoon for most of us.
  • Late afternoon and evening plans look dry (except well west of Houston toward Brenham and Columbus, where showers will linger til late day).
  • Folks north of Houston may miss out on a lot of the additional rainfall.
  • Additional rainfall: 0.25″ to 0.75″ or less in Montgomery, Liberty, and Grimes Counties and north.1-3″ in Harris, Chambers, Wharton, and Fort Bend Counties. A general 1-3″ with isolated pockets of 3-5″ possible in Galveston and Brazoria Counties.
  • There’s still a degree of uncertainty to this forecast, as modeling could be wrong. Check back in the morning for an update.

More in the morning.