“Oh good, the rain is still here.”
— Said no one in Houston this morning.
After a break in showers on Saturday afternoon, intermittent rain returned last night and during the overnight hours. And again this morning Houston was greeted by rain showers. So what happened?
An upper-level low pressure system that drove rain early on Saturday moved a little slower, and has been a little more effective at drawing moisture in from the Gulf of Mexico. Hence the slow and steady rain for much of the metro area this morning.
Unfortunately, given the slow movement of the upper-level low pressure system, instead of seeing rapid clearing today we may see continued intermittent light-to-moderate rain. This shouldn’t be enough to cause any kind of flooding in Houston because the bayous were able to recover on Saturday afternoon and during the overnight hours.
But it does mean today will be mostly gray, intermittently sodden, and overall not the Sunday we were all hoping for.
I’m still pretty confident that Monday and Tuesday will be pleasant, mostly sunny fall-like days, with highs in the 70s. But that won’t make today any better.
None of the models were really close to accurate in predicting the widespread high rain totals and flooding in central or southeast Texas. I’m curious if you understand why. Is this due to the models not correctly accounting for the El Niño effects or some other reason? Is this likely to be the case throughout the winter?
Honestly, I haven’t researched this yet. I don’t have a good answer for you right now.
You’re too funny!
That’s ok, perfect weather to do stuff inside the house I have been putting off forever.
Good to know, although I’m still concerned about Clear Creek…and the moat that is still high on 2 sides of my house in Oakbrook.
I actually love the rain. Makes working from home on the weekend much more pleasant.
And now the forecast for next weekend is trending wetter. My dad called this a “poor man’s rain”, because it doesn’t interfere with a poor working man getting his pay during the week. If only that were still the way it worked!
Eric –
I was going to ask why there was 2.3″ of additional rain in my gauge since the rain was supposed to stop. And why the rain woke me up at 4 AM.
Thanks for the explanation.
It could be worse, you could be asked to forecast oil prices for a living.
-BHF