Some of you have lamented the early demise of winter this year—Houston hasn’t had a low temperature below 47 degrees this month—and I don’t have any better news this week. Temperatures are going to warm up into the upper 80s on Monday and Tuesday, possibly reaching 90 degrees on Monday in some locations. Here’s a quick discussion of why:
An area of low pressure over Nebraska will direct winds over Texas to flow from the southwest later on Sunday and through Monday. In the chart below winds (blue hues depict a stronger flow) are shown about 3,000 feet above the surface of the Earth.
Winds and air pressures at the 900 mb level on Monday evening. (Weather Bell)
As most of you know this site has experienced some server stability issues during the last couple of months. That’s due primarily to my poor choice of a hosting service, and general lack of webmastering abilities. It’s definitely not acceptable, especially with the spring storm season on the horizon, and hurricane season coming along in just a few months.
Fortunately an old friend has stepped in to help, Jeff Balke of Two Roads Media. I’ve known Jeff for 15 years now. We met way back when the Houston Rockets were in the midst of their second campaign to secure funding for a new arena, I was covering the story, and Jeff had founded Save Our Rockets. Well, the Rockets got their arena, but we’re still waiting on that third championship, Jeff!
In any case Jeff helped me find a much better hosting service and we’ve moved the entire site over there. From here on out there should be no server stability issues, and he’s agreed to ensure that’s the case. Seeing that he’s also a weather nerd he may make contributions to this site from time to time, especially during hurricane season.
As expected the rains have moved out of the greater Houston region, and the heaviest storms are now over central Louisiana. Although a flood warning is in effect for Cypress Creek today in Harris County, only minor flooding is expected for portions of Sharp Road and Katy Hockley, which will may become inundated and possibly impassable later today or tonight.
The story is different to our east. Take a look at the total rainfall received in the Texas-Arkansas-Louisiana area during the last 48 hours. Note the very large area of 12 to 15 inches of rainfall in the Barney-colored purples.
Rainfall accumulation during the last 48 hours. (National Weather Service/Weather Bell)
Well, some heavy rain finally came overnight, with 1 to 4 inches generally falling across the Houston area. We were lucky. A region along the Texas-Louisiana border north of Beaumont received 6 to 10 inches overnight, and there are major flooding problems.
Here’s a look at the overnight rain totals in Houston.
Rain totals during the 12 hours preceding 6:40 a.m. CT Thursday. (HCOEM)
According to the Harris County Flood Control District, here are a list of watersheds affected by the rains:
Little Cypress Creek:
Creek is overbanks at Becker Rd with minor flooding in progress. Subdivision on the south side of the creek west of Becker Rd may experience some flooding of the streets as water backs up into the underground system. Creek continues to rise slowly, but looks like it is close to crest.
Upper Spring Creek:
Creek is overbanks from the headwaters to below Hegar Rd. Field Store Rd and Hegar Rd have flooding over the roadways. The creek is continuing a very slow rise.
South Mayde Creek:
Creek is overbanks at Greenhouse Rd. Creek has crested and is starting to fall. Greenhouse Rd is passable.
South Mayde Creek at Greenhouse is falling this morning, and passable. (Harris County Flood Control District)
Upper Cypress Creek:
Creek is nearing bankfull at Sharp and Katy Hockley and will likely exceed banks later this morning. Current RFC forecast brings the creek to near 158.5 ft tomorrow morning. Minor flooding is likely along the channel from the headwaters to upstream of US 290. Portions of Sharp Rd and Katy Hockley will likely become inundated and possibly impassable.
Little Mound Creek:
Creek is overbanks and continuing to rise and may be close to impacting Mathis Rd.
West Fork San Jacinto River:
River began a rapid rise overnight. It is forecast to crest at 51.3 feet Friday morning.
