Eric Berger

Storms continue for much of the Houston metro region this morning, as a line of showers sags slowly into central and southeastern parts of the city. But overall we’re not seeing a whole lot of movement as a major line of storms set up along the I-10 corridor to the west of Houston.

This is largely due to a convergence of winds coming down from the north and meeting with more winds coming off the Gulf of Mexico. This does two things: Convergence at the surface leads to rising air, a key ingredient of thunderstorms, and it is not allowing the storms to move much. Here’s what this looks like in terms of surface winds.

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The moisture has found the rising air, and it is just to the west of Houston.

Already, as of 11:15pm Sunday, more than 6 inches of rain have fallen across Austin, Waller and northwestern Harris County this evening, with rainfall rates in some locations exceeding 3 inches per hour. Moreover there is very little motion with these storms as they are obstructed at this time. This is creating “life-threatening” flash flooding conditions in these areas.

These storms may slowly slide eastward, into western portions of Harris County, during the next several hours. It is not clear if they will move all the way into central parts of the metro area, although I expect they will not. Regardless, they are already doing work to bayous and waterways, such as the San Jacinto River, to the immediate west of Houston. The National Weather Service says Cypress Creek Near Katy-Hockley Road will soon approach flood stage. And there will be more to come.

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