Eric Berger

Grim, gray weather has persisted across the Houston metro area on Saturday, but by far the heaviest rains have developed along the coast, where as much as 10 inches of rain have fallen in the last 24 hours. The following map shows estimated satellite rainfall accumulations through the middle of Saturday afternoon:

Officially, at of 4:15pm CT, the city of Galveston has recorded 6.14 inches of rain on Saturday, and when the city reaches 6.31 inches it will surpass Dec. 17, 1995, as the wettest December day ever recorded on the island.

Rest of today

A flash flood watch remains in effect for the entire area through Sunday evening, but as we’ve seen the heaviest rains have set up along the coastal counties, that’s where the biggest concern lies. Accordingly a flash flood warning is in effect through 5:45pm CT on Saturday for northwestern Galveston, and northeastern Brazoria counties. Grounds there are now fully saturated.

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And so it begins … as of the early afternoon hours we’re beginning to see scattered light to moderate rain showers moving into the southern and southeastern parts of the Houston metro area, primarily along the coast. This marks the beginning of about 72 hours in which we’re going to see the region’s wettest period since early this summer.

Matt covered the broad dynamics of the coming rains in a comprehensive post this morning, and at this point not much has changed. I’ve looked over the 12z model guidance and the range of solutions is still pretty broad—from widespread accumulations of 1-2 inches across much of Houston to upwards of 9 inches for wide swaths of the region.

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A new month means a new sponsor for Space City Weather, and I’m pleased to announce that Harmony Strings will support the site in December.

Thanks to their generous support we can provide all of our weather content for free, and with minimal advertisement, for the entire month of December. Here’s a little bit more about their business:

Harmony Strings is a professional string quartet in Houston, and the recipient of 17 industry awards including TheKnot’s Hall of Fame, TheKnot’s Best of Weddings, & WeddingWire’s Couple’s Choice Awards. Our multi-award winning string quartet performs classical & contemporary music for corporate events, holiday parties, galas, & everything in between!  Although we enjoy each and every event (isn’t variety the spice of life?), our specialty and our passion is weddings!  We know that your wedding is more than just a special occasion.  It’s the day you will finally marry the person you love!!  We know how much this day means to you, and we are always delighted and honored to be a part of such a beautiful celebration.  Whether your wedding is a lavish affair or an intimate ceremony, you can count on Harmony Strings to perform the music you love.  We invite you to listen to 25 contemporary & classical recordings of our Quartet, Trio, & Duo on our website.  Our calendar quickly fills up months (sometimes years) in advance, so request a quote for your event today!

The advantage of the sponsorship model is that we are under no pressure to generate web traffic for the sake of web traffic—so there’s no hype, no click bait and no nonsense. All we’ll do is continue to make the best possible forecasts we can make.

Good morning. It’s chilly out this morning, and very dry. How dry? Atmospheric moisture levels (shown below) are barely 10 percent of normal levels. Enjoy the calmer weather because big changes are coming for this weekend.

Today

Expect a cool and sunny day, with light northerly winds. Highs in the upper 60s and lows Thursday night should see temperatures three to five degrees warmer than Wednesday night.

Friday

Friday will bring about a change as winds shift to out of the east, and they’ll become gusty as moisture moves inland. At the same time a large upper-level low pressure system will approach Texas from the west, and these ingredients will set the stage for a wet—and potentially very wet—weekend. Friday itself should be mostly cloudy, with high temperatures in the mid-60s, and a chance of light to moderate rain during the afternoon and evening hours.

(Space City Weather is brought to you by Harmony Strings this month)

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