In brief: This post will provide some forecast information about Beryl and what to expect in the days ahead, but its main purpose is to try and answer a lot of the questions we’ve been receiving since the landfall of Beryl.
Bye, Bye Beryl
Beryl is whizzing away from Houston. As of 4 pm CT the storm is already 110 miles north of Houston, and pulling away at 16 mph. The storm has weakened into 45-mph tropical system and its weather effects on our region are marginal at this point. Soon they will be nil.
Forecast for this week
It could be worse for mid-July. Losing power during the summertime in Houston is very, very suboptimal, but at least we’re not jumping back into full-on summer heat right away. High temperatures for the rest of this week will be in the low 90s, with a transition to the mid-90s by the weekend. Overnight lows should also drop into the upper 70s for most locations, a few degrees cooler than we’ve been experiencing.
The lower daytime temperatures will be partly due to a fair amount of cloud cover during the afternoons, and a decent chance of showers and thunderstorms each day. (Right now overall accumulations each day look to be on the order of a tenth of an inch, or two, so no real concerns there). Humidity is still going to be very high. Winds are going to go from extreme to near zero by Tuesday morning. In terms of wet bulb globe temperatures, we’re talking high, but not extreme heat.
Is there anything else out there in the tropics to be worried about?
Nope.
We expect to see a lull in tropical activity for at least the rest of this week, if not longer, which is normal for July. Lord knows we’ve earned it. Several people have asked whether Beryl means it’s more or less likely we see another storm this season. I don’t think it makes any difference to our odds. We’ve still got about two and half months during which we need to remain really watchful of the tropics.
Creek and bayou flooding
Most of the creek and bayou flooding we’ve seen on Monday has peaked, or will soon. In the absence of heavy rainfall, and with our winds turning southwesterly, we will see these waters recede pretty quickly this afternoon and evening.
What is up with all these power outages?
I’ve got to tell you, I’m rather surprised by the extent of the power outages today due to downed trees, power lines, and damaged transmission equipment.
As of 2:30 pm CT today, CenterPoint reports that 2.2 million of its Houston-area customers are without electricity, or about 85 percent of them. I’m blown away because, during Hurricane Ike in 2008, there were about 2.1 million customers without power in the immediate aftermath of the storm. If you had asked me before Beryl whether I expected to see comparable outages during this storm, I would have emphatically said no.
Large chunks of the Houston metro area experienced sustained winds of 75 to 90 mph during Hurricane Ike, which made landfall with 110 mph winds. However, during Beryl, the maximum sustained winds that most communities experienced were on the order of 45 to 70 mph. (Beryl made landfall about 80 miles south of Houston with 80-mph sustained winds). So I really don’t understand why a majority of the Houston region is without power this afternoon. Beryl was a serious wind storm, but it was not Ike.
Is my internet coming back anytime soon?
When the power went out, it also took most of our broadband internet providers. The intricacies of internet service are beyond the scope of this site, but generally broadband providers like Comcast need electricity at the local level to deliver internet to your home. So my sense is that, for most communities, high-speed internet won’t come back until the power comes back. I’ve been (not so) patiently checking Xfinity’s site for my service address, and the estimated time of restoration remains an ominous, “as soon as possible.”
As for cell phone towers, you may have just a bar or two of service, which is not really enough to surf the web but still allows you to text and make phone calls. That’s because cell towers are subject to power outages as well. They have backup electrical systems, such as batteries or generators. Some carriers have trucks to service batteries or refill fuel-powered generators, but my understanding is that high-speed cell service may also be dependent on electricity being restored to nearby cell towers.
Are y’all gonna take a breath now, or what?
Like so many of you, Matt and I both experienced some issues with Beryl. In my case it was several large downed trees and limbs. (Shoutout to my neighbor, Andy, for being handy with his chainsaw so I could use my driveway). I continue to have no internet service, so I drove to Dwight’s house to research and write this update.
The bottom line is that we’re reverting to a normal, daily posting routine starting Tuesday morning. And the posts may be a bit late as we get things back in order. But honestly the forecast is super straightforward: warm-to-hot days, mild nights, high humidity, and a decent chance of showers and thunderstorms with daytime heating.
I want to offer a sincere thank you to everyone who followed along with us during Beryl, a storm that proved a beast to forecast, and which packed a surprisingly strong punch for a Category 1 hurricane making landfall to the south of Houston. I think I speak for everyone but the roofers and tree trimmers when I say, good riddance!
So…since he has power and internet, the post storm beer Beryl (ha!) party is at Dwight’s?
Thanks for all you do.
And when it comes to chainsaws, all that you don’t. : )
Sincere thank you gents!!!!
Seriously, SCW was the first to predict Matagorda Bay. Thank you for keeping up with the ever shifting storm.
We never lost power or internet where I live. Kinda wild!
What part of the city do you live in? I’m about ready to move!
No damage, no power loss. I’m a mile north of I-10 near Bunker Hill (Spring Branch).
And I am one mile south of I-10 near Bunker Hill. No power, no cell coverage, no wifi, no internet.
Did you drive 2 miles north to post?
How can you seriously be surprised at the power outages? They can’t keep the lights on in a light drizzle, so of course it was going to be out. Tracker? Nope, no accountability to customers unless we approve another surcharge.
I know I need to clean up my yard. But no power and being up half the night listening to the wind has taken a toll. I need a nap.
You and me both.
So very grateful to you two for excellent coverage.
Exactly. I already hurt myself trying to clean up don’t feel like working in the heat with no a/c
Space city is absolutely the best and I cannot thank yall enough for your constant updates always! Very much appreciated!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
You shouldn’t be surprised of widespread outage. Homeowners are irresponsible with safe tree planting and maintenance practices, CenterPoint is apathetic to easement encroachments, and the City/Counties take no action either. It is the trifecta of trying to pass off responsibility to someone else, leading to no action.
We have laws, ordinances, and fines for people putting other utilities at risk (think drought conditions, irrigation permits, gas permits), but we do very little to protect our power. CenterPoint’s tree trimming frequency and quality is very poor. No fines in homeowner’s who encroach on the easement. The city says it’s not their problem.
Home and Commercial builders are the irresponsible ones. They plant thousands of sapling trees (they get paid for each one of these) right under power lines.
City shouldn’t issue certificate of occupancy for developments that do that. CenterPoint should see them and slash them down. Again, it’s a trifecta of negligence.
Alex, you hit the nail on the head. People should be fined for their irresponsible tree management. The city doesn’t care. Center Point doesn’t care. Just like with everything these days, there’s no accountability. Nobody takes responsibility. Nobody cares about anything but themselves. Portions of the neighbor’s tree have been falling in our yard for the last 20 years and it finally almost totally fell in her yard this morning. Something has to be done to these people.
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 to all the work you put in through this time. Definitely lessened my anxiety throughout this whole time.
Thank you for being here!!!
Thanks guys! Really appreciate the facts without a ton of drama.
Couldn’t agree with you more about the power. 2.2 million without power with a Cat 1???
I’m at my sister and BIL’s home with a generator and it’s 5 adults, 1 16 month old who just started walking, 3 dogs and 2 cats.
Bless them for taking us all in, but come on, this is ridiculous!!!
Here in Kingwood, the wind was comparable to what we had during Ike–experiential and anecdotal, because I don’t have a device to measure wind speed, LOL. The rain was about what I expected, but the number of trees down in my neighborhood is pretty impressive. The power went out at my house about 5:30, and I didn’t see a tree fall until about 9.
Sending much love and a huge thank you to you both!!! (((♥)))
We kept power throughout the storm. To loose it at 11:15 when all was calm. 🤦🏻♀️
Ouch!
That’s what happened to us too!! I was so happy thinking we made it through without losing power and then….out. I’m in Oak Forest.
I live in Brookesmith and thought the same because the power didn’t go out until 945 when it was calm.
It took CNP seven full days after the derecho to restore power. Hoping it’s faster this time.
Thank you for all you do! As I’m only a 4 year resident here and still learning about the Texas crazy weather, I truly appreciate the frank and non-sensationalistic manner you report the facts! I live right on the water so this one was quite a scary blow but I’m thankful for no heavy damage. Keep doing what you do!!
Could the increase in outages be related to the ground already being wet from rain over the weekend, and a higher likelihood of trees uprooting because of that? Or perhaps limbs being weakened by the tornado/derecho event in May?
Don’t forget a lot of trees were pretty seriously harmed by the drought last summer and the August heatwave. There are a lot of dead trees in my neighborhood that haven’t been cut down yet. A lot of them dropped huge branches today.
These people that leave their dead trees need to be fined.
Thank you for your complete and no-hype coverage. I am currently out of town and depended on your coverage to know what was happening at home. I even wore my Space City T-shirt today.
We could have used a bit more hype. This was far worse than we were led to believe. No one expected worse than Ike power outages. Which is restored. before everyone is restored.
I’m in the same mindset as you. The “No Hype” bs really does well, except when a storm like this hits.
Keep living by your slogan fellas and in the meantime I’ll follow stations with actual meteorologists, who also use live radar. The “forecasting” from yall was a bust on this one and it might be time to hang it up.
All the “thanks and we appreciate you” comments don’t do much to incentivize you guys to not sugarcoat things. But if you walked out my front door and saw the destruction from what was supposed to be a minimal event, you’d be saying the same thing right now. Get a job
The last post before Beryl made landfall literally states that a majority of the area should expect at least tropical storm type winds. Once the track was clear and pretty set, where was it stated that this was a “minimal” event?
Be fair now. Eric and Matt, we so appreciate you! You are always my go to for accurate info. Truthfully, this was a cat 1 storm that roared in like a lion. I’ve lived here my whole life and never saw a cat 1 do this kind of extensive damage. It shouldn’t have done this kind of damage,but it did. Im looking forward to the post storm analysis to take a guess as to why. Eric and Matt, keep doing what you guys do so well
Thank goodness for Eric and Matt! Thanks for all you do.
Thanks for your hard work trying to forecast this tempermental beast! People who serve the public also need personal time. Take your time to get what you need done. You’ve earned it!
I appreciate the work you do! I’m originally from KC and studied meteorology and journalism at KU. I understand the art and the science of what you do! I happen to be in KC this week and I was sad to miss the experience. I’ve only lived in Houston for 10 years. And it has (as you noted in a recent post) the wackiest 10 years in Houston weather.
Just wanted to say thanks!
Sincerely appreciate all you do and the endless hours you spent to prepare us for the storm. My (uneducated) theory is that the drought severely weakened and damaged trees making them more susceptible to the high winds.
Eric, even though the total number of power outages is more. But the fact is that houston population increased quite a bit since 2008 Ike. So the total number of people out of power shouldn’t be the only thing we should look at. The bigger question is “Can the power can be restored quicker or not?”
I have counted on Space City Weather to get me through a number of storms and I am beyond grateful for all you both do to provide information without increasing stress and anxiety. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I so appreciate all that you do to keep everyone informed. You all ROCK!
power restored in Pearland around 1530
That’s really good to hear.
Where at in Pearland? We are still without power at 1730. We live off old Alvin Rd.
The power grid in Houston is absolutely horrible…no real resilience to speak off…considering all the time and number of weather events we face every year. No investment and just let the people pay the price and the suffering.
this happened after they started taking likes out of the ground and put them up in poles… with all these winds and storms they just cant stay up there. But there is a huge movement to unbury electricity because according to them, it’s too expensive to upkeep. Well this has consequences with how our weather is… get used to this new normal
lines*
Thank you for keeping us updated throughout the storm!!
Thank you, thank you for all you do! I’m trying to report downed power lines to Centerpoint via 713-207-2222, but I keep getting a message saying “The person you are trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time. Please try again later.” Not even ringing or an automated system. I tried reporting via the 311 chat but haven’t received a response. Anyone have other ideas?
Online has a way to report it w your phone number and street number But I just checked and the whole site is down 🙁
Thanks – thru googling I found a way to report a power outage, but not downed power lines. Also tried 311 but no answer. I’ll just have to wait my turn!
I tune into SCW almost exclusively and I tell my friends how good it is to get the information without the sensationalism (and with the humor thrown in for good measure). Y’all are the best and I don’t mind saying it loud!
Those of us who live in other states and who have family in the Houston area are also grateful to you for your
coverage of Space City Weather 🙂 To be a mom/Gramma of precious family who already experience Hurricane Harvey too close for comfort, you gentleman save my sanity! God bless you, your families and everyone who has been affected by Hurricane Beryl …
Y’all are awesome – thank you for helping keep everyone safe!
You all are lifesavers! Thank you!
Thank you so much for all you do! Really appreciate your nuisanced analysis.
Thank you so much. It’s wonderful to be able to trust your down to earth reporting. I am 84 and so appreciate you. Get some rest!
Thank you for your guidance that helped me decide when it was safe to drive back into Houston.
Y’all get some rest.
Thank you for keeping us so thoroughly updated!
Why worse? More people to impact is one obvious difference between IKe and Beryl PLUS I believe there was a longer duration of gusts.
Lake Jackson was hit hard! Way more damage here than with Ike! There had to have been stronger winds and possibly tornadoes.
I would really like to say a huge thanks from Australia for the objective way that you reported Beryl. I lived in Houston for 10 years and never experienced a hurricane there during that time, only tropical storms and some terrible flooding. Working with the Red Cross I saw what tornadoes did in Channelview. My daughter arrived in Houston barely 24hours before Beryl hit and a friend of mine sent me your link which I sent to her. Your reporting helped calm her as we text back and forth about how it was going for her. The last we text was when the eye must have been passing over, they were in the direct path, and apart from a fallen tree out the front they were fine and she was in good spirits. At that stage she said she had lost power and so she was going to conserve her phone battery. The storm had been downgraded to a tropical storm. We have lost communication now but I feel more confident that she is safe and well and look forward to communications being back up too. Thank you again for the the way that you reported the weather. I am extremely grateful.
No thanks to us needed, but many, many thanks to the timely updates y’all provided. Very much appreciated.
How did the actual flooding compare to the forecasted level 2? Curious whether you think you’ll back-forecast to the model to give an indication. I’m kind of curious mostly cause I know what it was like for us near Brays, but kind of blind on what the rest of the city was like.
Always appreciate your no-nonsense reporting. Helped us figure out the best way to come home from my mom’s house (Dallas area) in time to get our Houston home secured. We have fence damage and roof damage but we do have power (Montrose) thankfully. This one was no joke, and must have been one of the most challenging to accurately forecast with the number of track changes. Appreciate all your hard work, now go get that well-earned nap.
I cannot thank y’all enough. You provide such a great service to our whacky weather city.
People over trim trees and they are all so weak. In my neighborhood all the untrimmed trees were ok and the ones left really thin either broke in two or snapped huge branches. We really need to reconsider the entire trimming business.
Grateful to you up here in Nacogdoches; great info and reasoned commentary . I only listen to you guys!
Could the increase in number of outages be tied to there being around 800k -1 Million more people here than 2008? Just a guess. Thank you guys for everything you do. Hope you both get some much deserved rest!
Which stage for flooding would this end up being?
Thank you for your incredible effort, devotion, expertise, service, and humility. We are unbelievably fortunate to have you, as are those from afar who are concerned about us.
I have a mountain of hurricane anxiety (Katrina and Harvey), and now having to be strong for my family…you guys provided the far and away best forecasting I saw that balanced technical expertise, seasoned experience, empathy, and temperament. Keep up the. ood work
My only hypothesis for the larger wind impact is that we were on the dirty side of Beryl but more in the middle/clean side of Ike. I was surprised at all the damage I had today whereas during Ike, I barely had a leaning fence. I’m in League City barely west of 45. Ike traveled up 45 but on the east side of it.
You guys are the best! Having you makes these disasters less uncertain and worrying
A Beryl of fun she was not…glad she got out of town quick!! Thanks for keeping us informed😊
And the fence repair guys. SO MANY FENCES down in Shadow Creek. Holy smokes.
There’s a difference between “no hype” and actively downplaying the forecast. This is your second major weather event in a row that y’all were convinced wouldn’t be that bad.
In the grand scheme, it really wasn’t. Went through the eye of this one and it wasn’t great (no power since 3:50am), but really wasn’t terrible. I have a leaking roof jack but haven’t seen anything else yet – and nothing catastrophic.
The scope of power outages was significant, but given the growth of the area, especially on the west side of town, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been and certainly wasn’t as bad as some of the other forecasts suggested.
Actually once the Beryl track was clear, it pretty much went down exactly how they said it would.
Two of the most important things to do in advance of this storm would be to 1.) Stay inside 2.) Charge your phones and otherwise be ready for potential power outages. Space city weather advised its readers to do both as well as providing multiple daily updates leading up to the storm.
Thank you both for keeping us informed, even though this was a difficult storm to advise us on. No hype, just facts and pertinent information to help us make good choices for preparing for the storm. You are so appreciated!
So the inference regarding the commentary on our power outages, I believe, is: Why hasn’t the infrastructure of the 4th largest city in the US, with its history of storms and hurricanes, been updated or advanced to be technologically current and sustainable? It is maddening. Wish there was out swell of demand for change for this…
By the way, thank you for all you guys do. Space City Weather was our go to duiring IKE and I constantly recommmend to everyone.
Center Point’s power recovery page says that over a million customers have had power restored, but the latest text says that won’t happen until the end of Wednesday. Which is it?
Thanks for wrap up of where Beryl traveled as without power and internet we couldn’t follow. We were fortunate to get power back after 15 hours, and we had 10 days of no power during Ike. Love reading your posts. Thanks again from this weather geek.
Thank you for being a steady source for local weather!
Grateful for your informative and timely updates,
Thank you so much for all the helpful info before, during and after Hurricane Beryl. Y’all do an excellent job communicating without panicking the community and I appreciate the dose of humor thrown in at times.
I just commuted to work and the amount of downed trees surprised me. The soft ground theory someone proposed above is starting to make a little more sense. Anyway, be safe people. Roads are a mess. Eric and Matt, thanks for keeping us informed through another big one.
Thanks so much – love your analysis. I’m a crude oil analyst at a major trade shop in Houston and find your site very informative. On the comment of being surprised – personally I’m not at all. I’ve lived in 5 major cities across U.S. and Canada and was shocked when I moved to Houston to see how poor the infrastructure is. You have power lines above ground… lots of the traffic lights are just strung together loosely. I find it a little ridiculous and you don’t see this anywhere in most major cities around the world. It rains a little and we lose traffic lights all the time and power outages are common. Rice U did a study of what would happen to Houston if a cat 4-5 hit and it’s not shocking – the city would be unlivable for potentially 2 months… a lot of the chemical tanks in the ship channel aren’t even built to hurricane spec. Hopefully this storm wakens up both citizens and the government here.. we need change and investment.. not another lane on i-45.
Nailed it RJ, the unofficial Houston motto is “it’s cheaper to rebuild it over & over rather than build wisely”. Emphasis on cheap…we are hosed WHEN a cat 4/5 hits, not if.