Houston storms moving off, but another round moves in Thursday

A line of storms moved through the flood-stricken Houston area this morning, and as expected generally dropped 0.5 to 1.5 inches of rain. The bulk of the system is now moving off into the Gulf of Mexico, and will clear out entirely by mid-afternoon. Although we could still see a few isolated showers this afternoon and evening, for the most part we’re pretty much done with rain for today and tonight.

Rain accumulated during this morning's storms. (HCOEM)
Rain accumulated during this morning’s storms. (HCOEM)

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A line of storms approaching Houston from the northwest this morning

As expected a line of showers and thunderstorms is moving down through Texas this morning, and it should reach Houston by the mid- to late-morning hours.

As expected a line of showers and thunderstorms is moving toward Houston this morning. (Intellicast)
Radar at 6:40am CT Wednesday. A line of showers and thunderstorms is moving toward Houston this morning. (Intellicast)

 

This line is generally producing about 0.5 to 1.5 inches of rain as it moves toward the coast, and the good news (if there is any) is that the system has generally moved at a pretty good clip. This means the threat of slow-moving storms is lower. Although we can’t rule out some isolated areas of 3 inches or more, I think for the most part people will see about 1 inch of rain. After the system moves through, later today and tonight, we should see some scattered, but potentially intense, thunderstorms pop up as we saw on Tuesday afternoon and evening.

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Organized storms may return to Houston on Wednesday afternoon

Scattered thunderstorms—some of them pretty intense—have begun dying out this evening with the loss of daytime heating. After what I expect to be a fairly quiet night tonight, what comes on Wednesday?

Probably some more rain. We’ll see a spike in atmospheric moisture levels on Wednesday, and several forecast models show a fairly healthy line of showers moving down through Texas, likely reaching the College Station area an hour or two after sunrise, and perhaps moving into the Houston area by around noon. Note: these times are estimates, and the timing may vary. But I think it’s reasonable to expect the possibility of some heavy rain in Houston between the late morning hours on Wednesday until around 5 p.m.

(Texas Tech)
The Texas Tech WRF model shows a fairly slow-moving line of storms moving through Harris County at 2pm CT on Wednesday. (Texas Tech)

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Scattered, but intense thunderstorms popping up this afternoon

As expected with warmer daytime temperatures some isolated, but fairly strong thunderstorms have popped up over the Houston area. The National Weather Service has issued a street flooding advisory for one area just to the southeast of downtown Houston. Fortunately, so far these storms have not moved over areas hard particularly hit by rains Sunday night and Monday morning.

Areal flood advisory in effect until 3:15pm CT. (National Weather Service)
Areal flood advisory in effect until 3:15pm CT. (National Weather Service)

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