Eric Berger

Before getting into the forecast, let me just say that Harvey remains an unpredictable system in terms of intensity before landfall, and especially its track after landfall. This creates considerable uncertainty in the forecast. What you’ll find below is our best attempt, but conditions will change, and so will the forecast. As always, we’ll remain on top of it as best we can—because like you, we’re making critical decisions about travel, our families, and our property.

Harvey has improved its satellite appearance markedly this morning, and a reconnaissance aircraft found the storm’s central pressure had dropped considerably. The system now has 65-mph winds, and as it passes over warm water there is little to slow down intensification of the system prior to landfall. Because the storm has gotten its act together, and still has about 36 hours over water, the National Hurricane Center has amped up its wind speed forecast considerably. Harvey is now anticipated to come ashore with 115-mph winds, just over the threshold of Category-3, or major hurricane status. Here’s the 10am CT track update from the hurricane center:

Winds

Now that Harvey appears to be rapidly strengthening, we need to carefully consider the wind impacts of the storm. Winds are always highest on the right side of a hurricane, where the counter-clockwise rotation drives wind and storm surge inland for maximum effect. Therefore the location of the storm’s landfall is critical. Right now the hurricane center forecast predicts a landfall between Port Mansfield and just north of Matagorda. Such a landfall location translates to the following probabilities for sustained, tropical storm-force winds:

For the greater Houston area, this translates to about a 70 percent chance of TS-force winds, 39 mph or greater. This probability has increased due to the strengthening of Harvey, and it would increase further if Harvey takes a more northerly track toward Matagorda. The current probability of hurricane-force winds in Houston and Galveston is presently less than 20 percent, so I’m hopeful we won’t see anything too extreme.

As for timing, we can expect these winds to arrive late Friday night or Saturday morning, but certainly both days will probably be gusty for the region. After Harvey moves inland on Saturday morning, the winds should slacken some over Houston.

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As of 2:30pm CT, Harvey remains a depression in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico. We remain most concerned about the potential of this tropical system to drop a prodigious amount of rain from Friday through Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, primarily due to the fact that it will likely stall, or nearly so, once it moves into Texas this weekend. Let’s jump into the forecast.

Harvey track and intensity

The depression remains fairly poorly organized this afternoon, and that’s a good thing, because once it begins to develop a tightly organized circulation, there will be little to inhibit from strengthening further. The official forecast calls for a 75-mph hurricane to make landfall along the Texas coast Friday afternoon. It’s worth noting that the models (including the European forecast system) have shifted a bit to the left, meaning that a landfall between Brownsville and Corpus Christi now seems most probable. That may be good for the Houston region in terms of storm surge, but as we’ll see, it may matter little in terms of rainfall.

Rainfall, and timing

Please note that the following is speculative, but we’re attempting to affix a time frame to this storm and its effects because we’ve had a lot of travel questions. The following forecast assumes a Friday landfall along the south Texas coast, and therefore the forecast is subject to change. You have been warned.

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Just a quick post to note the official redevelopment of Harvey as a tropical depression in the southern Gulf of Mexico. The forecast track mirrors what we’ve been discussing for a couple of days now—the movement of a tropical storm into the Texas coast, after which its slows down, and drenches the eastern part of the state.

The official forecast predicts Harvey will reach hurricane strength—barely a Category 1 storm with 75mph—before it reaches the Texas coast. Tropical Storm watches are in effect for Galveston and the Galveston Bay area. Hurricane watches are in effect for Brazoria County, and areas southwest of Houston. But the primary concern with this system remains widespread rainfall and inland flooding. The hurricane center’s rain forecast for Harvey reflects this:

Our forecast from this morning largely holds up, as it is based on similar model data that made up the National Hurricane Center’s outlook. We will post a more comprehensive update this afternoon, around 2:30pm. In the meantime, here is what Matt and I feel you should bear in mind about the next several days.

• The rainfall hype is real and serious, and although it’s impossible to specifically forecast it at this time, you need to be aware of the threat.
• The forecast is going change, and in systems like this trying to pin down who gets maximum rainfall is extraordinarily difficult. Patience required.
• The rains will be spread out from Friday through Tuesday, but for Houston we continue to expect the heavier rain during the latter half of that period.