Matt Lanza

Post-Harvey week in review: November 20, 2017

As part of our commitment to helping the community recover from Hurricane Harvey, we thought it would be helpful to write a “week in review” post every Monday. In the post-Harvey world, there has been no shortage of news about recovery, future projects, and ramifications of all that happened during the storm. This weekly post, largely produced by Matt, attempts to summarize the major news of the week, without editorializing. Please feel free to share anything we missed in the comments, or suggest additions for next week’s post.

Read of the week

The U.S. Flooded One of Houston’s Richest Neighborhoods to Save Everyone Else (Bloomberg Businessweek): November 20th’s edition of Bloomberg Businessweek highlights the dam releases from Addicks and Barker and subsequent flooding in West Houston for their cover story. The article offers a synopsis of what happened and the challenges of ongoing litigation as a result of the flooding.

November 20th’s Bloomberg Businessweek talks about some of the Energy Corridor’s experiences during Harvey. (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Harvey Recovery

Repairs to Harvey-damaged San Jac bridge to start early 2018 (Houston Chronicle): TxDOT has a lot to consider after Harvey, including elevating roads. Meanwhile, work to repair the US-59/I-69 bridge over the San Jacinto River, which was heavily damaged by the flooding will begin after Christmas. Some of the repair work could be quite substantial.

After Harvey, A Once-Lively Neighborhood Finds Silence (Houston Public Media): Meyerland residents grapple with the decision to relocate or rebuild higher.

Nearly $29M being sent to more than 90 nonprofits in 2nd round of Harvey fund distribution (ABC 13): After $7 million was distributed last month, another $29 million of Harvey relief donations will be distributed among a whole bunch of local organizations to help folks in and around Houston.

It’s official: KHOU not returning to Allen Parkway (KHOU): After being flooded during Harvey, KHOU will seek out a new permanent home.

Houston area groups propose plan for how third Hurricane Harvey relief package should be distributed (Community Impact News): The U.S. House will soon pass a third aid package for Harvey relief. Governor Abbott has asked for over $61 billion in funding for various flood control projects and buyouts in addition to recovery. Much of that request is based on the Rebuild Texas plan. Another group has advocated for more comprehensive flood control the rest of Harris County. You can read about some of the differences between Rebuild Texas and this Better Houston plan in the article.

Texans blast Trump’s $44B storm relief package as ‘inadequate’ as White House goes on defense (Dallas News): Speaking of, the latest White House proposal for hurricane relief falls quite a bit short of what the governor had asked for from Congress.

Flood control plan for stretch of Buffalo Bayou could result in removal of trees (Houston Chronicle): Studies and discussions about how to control flooding on Buffalo Bayou could result in trees being removed for projects, such as detention ponds.

After Harvey, Houston arts groups on precarious footing as critical holiday season nears (Houston Chronicle): The Theater District in downtown Houston was hit tremendously hard by Harvey. Recovery is slow and challenging, and it may take several years to fully recover.

See full post

Another front without much fanfare for Houston

We’ve had several cold fronts pass through Houston this autumn. Very few of them have carried much punch as they passed through. Tomorrow’s front will behave similarly. As a result, precipitation (outside of a few exceptions) has been pretty minimal this fall. We finished September nearly three inches below normal officially at Bush Airport. October finished a bit over two inches below normal. And through the first half of November, we’re running just under two inches below normal.

Over the last 60 days, rainfall has averaged about 50-75% of normal in most of Southeast Texas. (NOAA)

In fact, much of Texas has been dry. And yes, we can start using the “D” word a bit more liberally in Texas. That word is drought. With precipitation over the next two weeks likely to average below normal in most of Texas, and with drought areas expanding, we’re likely to see talk of drought show up a bit more often.

Harvey obviously delivered enough rain to hold drought back in our area for a good while. But with Harvey becoming a distant memory in the water system, and Texas’s historical reputation of going from one extreme to the other, we can start discussing this potential. Areas in interior Texas less impacted by Harvey are already there.

So with that setup, let’s dive into the forecast.

Today

There’s not much in the way of fog to start today, thanks in part to more cloud cover. So expect a pretty benign Friday: Clouds and some sun. We’ll warm up into the low 80s in most spots this afternoon away from the coast.

See full post

A decent fall weekend for Houston

After a gray start, Thursday turned out to be pretty nice in Houston proper. Actually, Thursday was about as California of a day as you can find in Houston. It really did feel nice. Clouds were a bit more stubborn north and west of Houston. Things should change there today. Friday is starting off cool and somewhat crisp. It looks like we warm up again this weekend and next week, but we should stay safely under the obscene levels we hit earlier this week. The details…

Friday through Sunday

We’re starting this morning on the cool side for sure. Middle or upper 40s dominate north and west, with low or mid-50s dominating south and east.

A chilly start north and west of Houston today! (NOAA)

Expect a pretty nice day today. Any clouds or fog south and west should fade. It’ll be partly to mostly sunny and mild, with temperatures warming up this afternoon into the 60s to about 70° in spots. A quiet and pleasant night tonight; expect morning lows on Saturday to be about one to four degrees warmer than this morning on average. Likewise, daytime highs will be similarly warmer with a mix of clouds and sun. As of now we don’t expect any rain Saturday. But a sprinkle or shower may be possible late, well south of Houston.

How about Sunday? Well, we’ll see an onshore flow return, along with clouds, so expect a much warmer start to the day (low 60s on average). During the afternoon, there will be a few scattered showers around. Otherwise, partly to mostly cloudy skies dominate, and we’ll top off in the mid-70s or perhaps upper-70s with enough sunshine.

You may dodge a few raindrops in a few spots on Sunday, but otherwise, the weekend is looking pretty good. (NWS Houston)

So, weekend plans outdoors? I’d try to do them Saturday, but if you have to go Sunday, odds still favor you probably getting through the day without issue..

See full post

A (mostly) fine day for a parade in Houston

Let’s be honest, it could be cold, pouring, snowing, whatever and Houston would find a way to enjoy today. So whatever we have to say about the weather, it’s a fine day for a parade. Lots of other things going on this weekend too. Let’s hop to it.

Today

So, overall today shouldn’t be too bad. Expect a mix of sun and clouds with high temperatures in the middle 80s. We managed to hit 88° officially yesterday, which is the 9th hottest November day on record in Houston (the other 8 days we hit 89°). Last time it was this warm in November officially? One year ago. We hit 88° on November 2nd and 3rd of 2016. Hobby Airport hit 90° Thursday, tying their warmest November temperature on record (1934 and 1973 being the last years to see 90° at Hobby). Further north, Dallas hit 94° yesterday, breaking their previous all-time (back to the 1890s) hottest November day by *five* degrees. If you’re wondering if this is unusual for November, it is.

Anyway, with a pretty weak little disturbance passing through North Texas today, we will probably see a smattering of isolated showers this afternoon. I don’t expect them to be significant in coverage or intensity. If you’re headed to the Astros parade downtown, I wouldn’t necessarily expect rain, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it did rain for a few minutes.

Weekend

The weather pattern for the next several days looks pretty stable over Southeast Texas. This should yield a mix of sun and clouds both days. Don’t be shocked if clouds are prevalent in the morning, before breaking up in the afternoon. Also, morning fog, locally dense, is likely the next few days, so use caution if you’ll be out and about early in the day. Temperatures will top off in the middle 80s inland. I wouldn’t be shocked to see an 87°, 88°, or 89° show up though in a few spots on either day.

In Galveston for the Lone Star Rally? It looks just fine. Expect low 80s for highs both days. Morning lows will be in the mid-70s in Galveston.

Fine weather this weekend for the Lone Star Rally (NWS Houston)

Elsewhere, morning lows will be in the low 70s on average. We should typically be in the 50s right now.

Oh, and rain chances? They aren’t zero, but they are very, very low for most areas to the point that we wouldn’t even bother mentioning them. Go about your plans without much worry this weekend.

By the way, Houston’s other postseason team, the Dynamo play the Timbers out in Portland Sunday at 6:30 for a chance to advance to the Western Conference Championship. It looks like a typical early winter day in Portland for the match: Damp, though perhaps not raining too heavily, with temperatures in the 40s. So let’s keep the championship vibes flowing.

See full post