Texas Spring 2019

[DonWrk]

Some major flooding taking place west of 35 and east of Bowie.

[WeatherP1]

Everyone on social media screaming huge bust, I did see one channel advertising the "hail" in Gainesville. Maybe nickel sized but they had their camera on the ground to make sure and pick up the bouncing effect.

I really thing the weather tools available make people even more prone to overhype. Every channel advertising baseball sized hail, they should have just said some hail is possible and a slight chance of large hail. They made it sound like armageddeon. Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights, events cancelled, pretty much for nothing. Lots of money lost this evening.

There's going to have to be a big explanation by the TV mets and NWS why nothing really materialized besides the run of the mill thunderstorms.

Hail storms are bad and damaging, horrible to experience. However, all that hype for something that is extremely rare, limited in scope is kind of really reaching. Most go their whole lives without ever witnessing baseball+ size hail. Despite it happening frequently across the FW CWA, the odds of any one location is still extremely low. I think Texas Snowman nailed it earlier that when the NWS put out a graphic depicting hail sizes, folks took that without placing additional content and it spread like wildfire. Even in a large outbreak it's still a low frequency occurrence in a geographical area.

Even if it had occurred today, less than 1% of the population would have even experienced it.

First, NWS FtWorth does a great job! But their hail size graphic could be interpreted as days areawide with baseball or larger hail, rather than days with a storm containing a localized hail-core. Their second graphic showing a traffic jam during a severe storm only worried Non Weather-wise citizens more. “Giant hail”, IMO, is a local meso event and not a broadbrush area forecast.

[ravyrn]

Two Saturdays ago, I had coworkers in Alto, Grapeland, Jacksonville, and Elkhart suffer golfball to tennisball-sized hail damage to vehicles, windows, and roofs.

This past Saturday, I had the same coworker in Alto luck out with only suffering a power outage for about 36 hours, while homes within a mile of her house were completely destroyed. My parents elderly neighbors from Pasadena (who have a country home next door to them in Maydelle) drove through Alto a little after noon (after the first tornado had passed through town) and then headed to Caddo Mounds to stop for the cultural festival. After seeing the damage in Alto from the first tornado and seeing what the sky looked like, they decided not to stop at Caddo Mounds and drove past it a couple hundred yards on TX21 toward Crockett, before they ran into the second tornado. Several trees smashed against their van, smashing out all the windows and totaling their vehicle. Fortunately the couple in the late 60s or early 70s, walked away with only some minor cuts from the windblown glass and debris.

I think today was a bit overhyped due to the events here in rural East Texas these past two Saturdays. Everyone was alarmed of another potential round of devastating weather (which could still potentially occur in some localized areas). Especially in areas that have already had it so bad two times in just the past 11 days. There are currently several severe thunderstorm warnings and a tornado warning along the line of storms. And the line is still west of I35. I don't think NWS FWD was that far off with their forecast (as well as Steve McCauley). There was a small chance of supercells popping up, but the main threat this evening and on into tonight has always been a solid line of storms moving through the area with wind and hail being the main concerns.

[Brent]

73 mph wind gust at the Denton airport

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1230 AM CDT
FOR DENTON COUNTY...

At 1140 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located over Denton, moving
east at 45 mph.

This is a very dangerous storm.

HAZARD...80 mph wind gusts and quarter size hail.

SOURCE...Denton Airport measured 73 MPH winds around 11:35 PM.

[weatherdude1108]

Wind just picked up here. Lightning and thunder. Starting to rain heavily. Getting some pea size hail.

Special Weather Statement
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX
1139 PM CDT Wed Apr 17 2019

TXZ172-173-192-180545-
Williamson TX-Burnet TX-Travis TX-
1139 PM CDT Wed Apr 17 2019

...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR WILLIAMSON...NORTHERN TRAVIS AND
SOUTHEASTERN BURNET COUNTIES UNTIL 1245 AM CDT...

At 1139 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking strong thunderstorms along
a line extending from near Jarrell to near Hudson Bend. Movement was
east at 35 mph.

Penny size hail and wind gusts up to 50 mph will be possible with
these storms.

Locations impacted include...
Austin, Round Rock, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Taylor,
Granger, Anderson Mill, Serenada, Windemere, Leander, Hutto, Lago
Vista, Hudson Bend, Bartlett, Liberty Hill, Jarrell, Florence, Thrall
and Weir.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

Frequent cloud to ground lightning is occurring with these storms.
Lightning can strike 10 miles away from a thunderstorm. Seek a safe
shelter inside a building or vehicle.

These storms may intensify, so be certain to monitor local radio
stations and available television stations for additional information
and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.

&&

A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 200 AM CDT for
south central Texas.

[rwfromkansas]

Lots of thunder for sure. Only .04 of an inch of rain.

[weatherdude1108]

I was able to check rain gauge. It showed full inch, just from these storms in about 35 minutes. We"re not done yet!


Temperature went from 75 to 63!

I'll try to sleep now.

[JDawg512]

Hey hey hey, the Rain Miser has arrived and its hailing here at the rain cave

[Haris]

1.14" according to my weather station. Should put my monthly total around 4". Very very heavy rain for 50 min and hail to nickels.

Ill check the gauge in the morning. Nice!

[Brent]

good rain event here in the eastern metro, still coming down

[Ralph's Weather]

Storms are intense along along and south of I-20 in E TX. So far just heavy rain in Hideaway but storm is starting to bow out towards Tyler with some notches starting to form. Down in the Palestine, Jacksonville and Nacogdoches corridor it is already severe warned. This includes the Alto area that saw 3 tornadoes on Sat.

[weatherdude1108]

1.5 inches total.

[rwfromkansas]

Squeaked by with .32. Pretty windy last night.

[Shoshana]

I heard it start raining, then fell asleep. Heard it storm a couple of times after that but never heard any hail here. I could have slept through it if it was pea size though.

[ravyrn]

No storm damage that I saw leaving Jacksonville. In Palestine though trees and power lines down all over town with several local schools doing delayed openings or staying closed today. No power at the parole office where I work and doesn’t look like we will have power until after lunch.

[CaptinCrunch]

Just a good soaker last night, no hail, or wind and about .25 of rain.

I agree that this event had the makings for a severe weather event, and even though there were a few cells that reached severe level the over all system was pretty lackluster. Chaulk this up to just a normal spring event and move on to the next system.

[Ralph's Weather]

Almost 3 inches here so far still a bit of light rain, but that won't add up to anything. Storms had pretty good wind in E TX south of I-20, though thankfully have not heard of major damage yet.

[ravyrn]

Just a good soaker last night, no hail, or wind and about .25 of rain.

I agree that this event had the makings for a severe weather event, and even though there were a few cells that reached severe level the over all system was pretty lackluster. Chaulk this up to just a normal spring event and move on to the next system.

There was nothing lackluster about the storm in Anderson, Leon, and Houston counties. Over half of those three counties are without power still from the storms that passed through at 3am. Electric companies say power will likely be out remainder of the day for many areas.

East Texas just can’t get a break these past two weeks!

[Brent]

Over an inch of rain here

And today feels amazing out soak it up before summer sets in

[weatherdude1108]

The operational GFS went from this on the 0z:



To this on the 12Z:


Rain bomb to donut hole over central Texas.

But the FV3-GFS has southern Texas in the higher totals.