Good morning. A cold front was making steady progress across central Texas at 6 a.m. today and promised stormy weather for the greater Houston region later this morning and afternoon.
In terms of timing, expect scattered, strong showers and thunderstorms this morning ahead of the main squall line moving in from the west. There is some rotation with these storms so isolated tornadoes are possible.
The squall line itself should reach the western part of the region by around 9 to noon CT and move through the region by the mid-afternoon hours. During these midday hours very strong thunderstorms will be possible, with rainfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour. Amid these intense downpours some street flooding may occur, I’d expect to see some flood advisories for high water on low-lying roadways, but as squall line should move through fairly quickly I do not expect widespread, significant flooding.
However the storms will be capable of producing strong wind gusts in excess of 30 mph and possibly isolated tornadoes.
After the front moves through rain chances will fall off dramatically by late afternoon or early evening, and much cooler and drier air will move in.
Expect highs in the low to mid-70s for the rest of the work week, with lows in the low 50s, and quite possibly cooler weather this weekend as an additional shot of cold air arrives Saturday.
Matt and I will do our best to keep the blog updated today.
Posted at 6:15 a.m. CT
Thanks, Eric!
What she said.
Sitting here in a control room finding this hype-free report very useful as usual! Thanks Eric!
Can we expect the same intensity in the Beaumont area?
I would say so, yes, just an hour or two later.
Thankful for your updates! Was afraid I wouldn’t be able to find you again!
Thanks for following me over here!
I check with you every day now. Thanks for the clear weather guidance!
Can we assume fall has finally arrived and we are seeing the last vestiges of summer as it wanes away? It would be nice to be able to turn off the A/C!! 🙂
Always a chance we can get a sneaky surge of humidity for a day or two, but yes, I think we’re seeing autumn/winter settle in. And, we may get some widespread 40s this weekend to boot!
Thanks, Eric.
Re hyped weather reports
I recently heard a Houston TV weatherman say on-air to an off-screen assistant “Turn up the colors so our viewers can see this clearer”. I live in the Montrose neighborhood of central Houston and I’ve been watching today’s (11/17/15) storm roll through Houston. Live radar from one TV station shows that I am in a bright red zone and the edge of this red zone extends to the east about ten miles. Yet we have only a slight drizzle and no wind !
This is analogous to 3-D seismic widely used in oil and gas exploration. Oil men trying to raise money for drilling deals quickly learned that what might appear to be a slight anomaly could be “brightened up” giving the impression that the potential for an oil or gas discovery was greater than it really was. This goes back 20+ years and it still fools investors and a few ignorant oil men. Since the deceptive message is conveyed with colors and not words, fraud cannot be proved.