2012 SE TX/SW LA Weather:Cold/cool week.

[Jagno]

Now today was perfect lawn and garden weather. It was overcast, warm and not too oppresively humid although we did have light showers intermittently throughout the afternoon. Early this evening we had a small shower followed by noticeably cooler temps and a brisk wind to dry things very quickly. The weather God's must be looking out for me because I need about a week of this fabulous weather just to get caught up on my outdoor tasks. I do hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.,

[vbhoutex]

Heat's on in SE TX. 94F today for a high!! UGH!! Can't we just stay in the 60's t0 80's?

[Jagno]

Heat's on in SE TX. 94F today for a high!! UGH!! Can't we just stay in the 60's t0 80's?

Today was downright HOT. It was like trying to inhale after opening the oven door. However, as I was dreaming of the same temps as you I see this come up on our local news so they just busted our bubble it seems.

I guess it's back to the routine of getting up extra early to do as much of your outdoor tasks as you can and then it's housebound until it starts cooling down again around 5-6pm.

We still have no mature shade trees since Rita so it's hard to find a nice shady spot to relax in and rest while working outdoors.


Forecasters predict unusual summer temperatures
Posted: May 18, 2012 4:02 AM CDT Updated: May 18, 2012 4:04 AM CDT




In the northwestern U.S. and in Alaska, forecasters expect cooler-than-normal temperatures. (Source: CNN)

(CNN) – The forecast from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration calls for above-average temperatures for June through August.

That should be the case for about three-quarters of the United States.

The weather could be especially troublesome for the West due to the prospect for wildfires.

It's not just heat for everyone, though.

In the northwestern U.S. and in Alaska, forecasters expect cooler-than-normal temperatures.

The hottest 12-month period on record came from last May through April of this year.

Those records go back to 1895.

Copyright 2012 CNN. All rights reserved.

[PTrackerLA]

Ran the sprinkler for the first time of the year yesterday which isn't that bad considering it's May 21st. 30% chance of storms this afternoon so hopefully we can get lucky. We're now in the "in between" season of when fronts no longer come through and before the daily seabreeze type convection. As long as that starts on time this year which seems to average around June 1st I don't see us having any big issue with drought this summer given that we're still 3" above normal for the year (and have twice the amount of rainfall at this time last year.)

[Jagno]

From NOAA:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF THE NORTHWEST
GULF OF MEXICO...CENTRAL LOUISIANA...SOUTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA...
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA...WEST CENTRAL LOUISIANA AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING. ONE OR TWO THUNDERSTORMS IN THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY
EVENING MAY BRIEFLY BECOME STRONG WITH FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND
SMALL HAIL POSSIBLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY
ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN DURING TUESDAY
AFTERNOON. OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING STRIKES WILL BE THE BIGGEST
THREAT.

We didn't get a drop but with this heat index I was thankful for even the brief amouts of cloud cover this evening. I've been doing some serious lawn work and had to go inside by 11am due to signs of heat stress. I've been waiting until late evening to water and then you feel like a lab rat for West Nile. This morning I decided to get out there at sunrise and water but the mosquitoes were twice as bad. I'm already dreading August. LOL

[Jagno]

Where oh where has our raindrops gone? It's downright hot and much too dry already.

You know it's bad when your husband cancels his golf game to stay home and build you a really nice cabana on his long weekend off. We've had no relief in the form of shade since Rita took our mature trees and our large gazebo.

You know it's REALLY bad when your husband calls you to go meet him at the pool retail shop. Yeah, like we are going to pay the exact same amount of money for an in ground pool that we spent to buy this acre and build our home on it. Okay, so it was 30 years ago but it still doesn't seem right.

Well, I'm doing everything I can to keep my fruit trees and plants hydrated to include adding a fresh 4" layer of mulch to everything and water twice daily. I did learn one new tidbit about mulch. Cypress mulch was always my first choice because it deterred pests better than most and retarded weed growth. Now I learn it also drastically slows the plant growth so now I'm changing all of the mulch in my beds and just using the cypress mulch in the pathways and areas that I don't want weeds or grass and I don't have plants.

This non-winter is costing us dearly. Gardens are overrun with pests. I feel like I'm living in wild kingdom as I've battled snakes in excess of 8' long, turtles, carpenter bees, red wasp, and thousands of dollars in repairs due to honey bees in my walls and subfloor. The third time of having a beekeeper out here in 3 months is no picnic. He said this is the largest amount of bees ever recovered in one location. I'm just glad they're gone.

We need rain. A good gentle but steady soaking rain that screams for naps and good movies.

UPDATE: Just ask and you shall receive. Today Wed. 5/30 we received 1/2" of nice steady rain for a little while with a forcast of more to come tomorrow.

[CajunMama]

Some action a-coming!!!!

Severe Thunderstorm Watch
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH OUTLINE UPDATE FOR WS 327
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1040 AM CDT THU MAY 31 2012

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 327 IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM CDT
FOR THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS

LAC001-003-005-007-009-011-019-021-023-025-029-033-035-037-039-
041-043-045-047-049-053-055-059-063-065-067-069-073-077-079-083-
085-091-097-099-101-107-113-115-121-123-125-127-312300-
/O.NEW.KWNS.SV.A.0327.120531T1540Z-120531T2300Z/

LA
. LOUISIANA PARISHES INCLUDED ARE

Code: Select all

ACADIA               ALLEN               ASCENSION
ASSUMPTION           AVOYELLES           BEAUREGARD
CALCASIEU            CALDWELL            CAMERON
CATAHOULA            CONCORDIA           EAST BATON ROUGE
EAST CARROLL         EAST FELICIANA      EVANGELINE
FRANKLIN             GRANT               IBERIA
IBERVILLE            JACKSON             JEFFERSON DAVIS
LAFAYETTE            LA SALLE            LIVINGSTON
MADISON              MOREHOUSE           NATCHITOCHES
OUACHITA             POINTE COUPEE       RAPIDES
RICHLAND             SABINE              ST. HELENA
ST. LANDRY           ST. MARTIN          ST. MARY
TENSAS               VERMILION           VERNON
WEST BATON ROUGE     WEST CARROLL        WEST FELICIANA
WINN

$$

[PTrackerLA]

Radar is really lightning up to our west with severe warning being issued. Should get a good soaking today!

[scotto]

Save some for your neighbors to the East.

[vbhoutex]

Went out to do some spotting here in Houston on Thursday. Apparently the I10 wall is still in place. When I intercepted the storm in the Sugar Land area there was no indication of the severe that had been reported, but the rains were torrential. That area received at least .5" of rain while my area a few miles N of I-10 got a whopping 0.04". We had a lot more rain this May than last May, but that wasn't hard since we had 0.11" last year. Still it has been over 3 weeks since we have had any significant rain at my house. Water bill is growing. Hoping the advertised pattern change comes this week. 97F was the high yesterday.

[Jagno]

I feel your pain. We need some good soaking rains. The forecast is calling for rain tomorrow through Saturday so I'm really getting my hopes up.

Our grass isn't even growing anymore nor have my Crepe Myrtles bloomed due to the early drought like conditions. And I've been watering. As much as I miss my vegetable garden this year since I'm relocating it, I'm almost thankful I didn't plant because everyone is fussing about their low yields without enough rain.

Scotto, we'll do our best to send some your way.

[vbhoutex]

Looks like we may get a good soaking later this week and weekend. This is Jeff Lindner's morning email.

A slow moving upper level low will combine with deep tropical moisture to produce an extended period of wet weather across much of the state.

Water vapor shows an upper level low over S TX and another upper level low starting to form over NW TX (the old remains of an meso scale vorticity center from an overnight thunderstorm complex over the TX panhandle). While over the Gulf of Mexico deep tropical moisture is advancing NW off the Yucatan toward the TX coast this morning. GOES sounder shows a large area of PW values of 1.8-2.2 inches across much of the central and western Gulf of Mexico moving toward the coast and this is confirmed by the increase in scattered showers/thunderstorms off the coast this morning. This moisture will make its way inland today and continue to increase with PW values reaching 1.9-2.2 inches by Thursday into the weekend. Additionally, a weak frontal boundary will approach the area from the north/northeast Wednesday and stall across our northeastern counties helping to add another ingredient for rainfall. The NW TX upper level system will combine with the southern TX upper low and form a broad upper level low/trough over the state which becomes trapped on the southern side of a large central US ridge in a blocking pattern. The result will be little motion or a slow drift of the upper level system.

With tropical moisture becoming increasingly entrained into the upper level system there is the possibility that the system will take on warm core features the most important the ability of the system to focus deep convection near its center in the overnight hours…similar to a tropical cyclone as it moves inland. Such systems in the past have produced incredible amounts of rainfall (usually in a small isolated area near or just east of the center). We will need to keep a close eye on this over the next 2-4 days as the upper level system meanders over central TX and then begins a slow eastward drift across SE TX this weekend.

Combination of all the above mentioned factors will lead to high rain chances starting Wednesday and continuing into early next week. Once temperatures achieve the mid to upper 80’s by late morning expect thunderstorms to begin to develop in our very moist air mass. Very weak wind fields will promote slow storm motions of less than 10mph pointing strongly toward a heavy rainfall threat…especially later in the week when the deeper tropical moisture arrives. With grounds dry from the past few weeks and the expected scattered nature of the rainfall at least through Thursday…do not think flooding will be a concern for the next 48 hours. From Friday onward as grounds saturate more run-off will be generated with additional rainfall and flooding could become a concern. We should have a good idea by Thursday if this system will behave somewhat like a tropical system and if that is the case rainfall amounts will need to be raised significantly.

For now will go with widespread 2-4 inches of rainfall through the weekend across the region, and would not be surprised if a few location pick up more than that.

[PTrackerLA]

Hopefully the rains will begin to materialize for my area today. Yesterday was absurdly hot, 96 was our official high but I guess that's better than the record high temp of 100 set in 2011 . If it wasn't for the surprise storm that fired up last Thursday evening that gave us almost 1.5" and pea sized hail at my house things would be really dry by now. Healthy'ish rain chances of 40% look to be in the forecast for the foreseeable future so we may just be able to squash the return of the drought.

[PTrackerLA]

Got at least 1.5" yesterday and NWS calling for healthy rain chances through the weekend. Thankfully won't be seeing a repeat of June 2011!

[Jagno]

I waited all day for the 50% chance of rain to materialize. Finally around 5pm the skies opened up for us. DH and I had decided that the rain threat simply wasn't going to happen and we began building our newest 12 x 12 deck addition. We then began hearing thunder and had a gentle rain so we kept working. It wasn't until an hour or so later, when the lightening began that we came inside to "let it blow over". I was shocked when the weather band was blarring out one alert after another. LOL The worst of it seemed to stay just east of our location so we kept working. We finished the deck about 5 minutes before the rain finally stopped. Our timing is always perfect! LOL

I hope many of you were able to get some of this much needed rain and none of the nasty stuff that came with it. I know some realatives in the Lafayette area were without electricity for a while this evening. I hope it came back on quickly.

[vbhoutex]

Some of our area is slowly slipping back into drought. Here at my house on the West side of Houston we have had a whopping 0.11" of rain so far this month.

[vbhoutex]

Not looking forward to the forecast of mid to upper 90's all week with little hope of rain.

[Jagno]

OMG it's unbearably hot, hot, hot! DH and I have already built a 3rd deck around the pond and he wanted to start on deck 4 but the heat has really gotten to me on top of a pretty bad sunburn I got yesterday. Deck 4 will just have to wait. All of the rain yesterday went around and east of us yet we didn't have a single drop fall here. Those that did, got way more than what they'd bargained for it seems. I pray we don't see another drought anytime soon. What worries me is that we are seeing unseasonably hot temperatures so early. I don't even want to imagine August.

[Nikki]

Omgosh.......a heat index of 101 today!! That is just crazy!! It is so hot and not a drop of rain in sight..........geez!! I sure hope we don't have a repeat of last summer!!!

[vbhoutex]

Omgosh.......a heat index of 101 today!! That is just crazy!! It is so hot and not a drop of rain in sight..........geez!! I sure hope we don't have a repeat of last summer!!!

Unfortunately some of the areas not closer to the coast are slipping back into drought mode. I sure don't like the current trend I am seeing. At least we aren't anywhere nearly as dry at this point as we were last year.