2011 SE TX/SW LA Weather: Nice weather next several days

[horselattitudesfarm]

Complaining is all that is left for this weather it seems. Fire danger today is EXTREME. It is dry like it was on Labor Day. So sad to see so much dying. Oaks gone in scores. As someone suggested, the near absolute absence of rain makes surely makes this comparable to the worst of the 50s. Why is this weather pattern so fixed in place?

We have fought a losing battle against the elements in watering and trying to save what took us so long to establish. It seems to be close to the end of the game to me.

Not a drop of water in sight really. The forecast discussion says the only good news is cooler and drier... that is what got us the fires.

Its time to get out of Texas! This is a ruined state, especially if you like the outdoors and Texas' natural treasures.

[Turtle]

Wow, I had a high of 99 today. Average high is 85. I think I can understand how 100 degrees is a heat wave to the people up north during the hottest days of summer.

[jasons2k]

Well this is depressing - possibly a multi-year drought is ahead:
http://blog.chron.com/climateabyss/2011 ... be-broken/

I am getting a few drops from this dying cell, but mostly just some very gusty winds as the storm collapses.

[Tireman4]

The beat just keeps going on....sigh...

&&

.CLIMATE...
WITH ONLY FOUR DAYS LEFT IN THE MONTH...SEPTEMBER 2011 IS SET TO
BECOME ONE OF THE WARMEST SEPTEMBERS ON RECORD ACROSS MUCH OF
INLAND SOUTHEAST TEXAS.

FOR COLLEGE STATION...
THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR SEPTEMBER (THROUGH 9/26) HAS BEEN
83.4 DEGREES WHICH CURRENTLY RANKS AS THE 3RD WARMEST SEPTEMBER
ON RECORD (1ST PLACE IS 85.2 DEGREES SET IN 2005). IN
2011...COLLEGE STATION HAS HAD THEIR 1ST WARMEST APRIL...THEIR
10TH WARMEST MAY...THEIR 3RD WARMEST JUNE...THEIR 2ND WARMEST
JULY...AND THEIR 1ST WARMEST AUGUST.

FOR HOUSTON INTERCONTINENTAL AIRPORT...
THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR SEPTEMBER (THROUGH 9/26) HAS BEEN
82.8 DEGREES WHICH CURRENTLY RANKS AS THE 3RD WARMEST SEPTEMBER
ON RECORD (1ST PLACE IS 83.4 DEGREES IN 2005). IN 2011...HOUSTON
INTERCONTINENTAL HAS HAD THEIR 3RD WARMEST APRIL...THEIR 8TH
WARMEST MAY...THEIR 1ST WARMEST JUNE...THEIR 3RD WARMEST
JULY...AND THEIR 1ST WARMEST AUGUST.

FOR HOUSTON HOBBY AIRPORT...
THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR SEPTEMBER (THROUGH 9/26) HAS BEEN
82.8 DEGREES WHICH CURRENTLY RANKS AS THE 3RD WARMEST SEPTEMBER
ON RECORD (1ST PLACE IS 84.5 DEGREES IN 2005...AND 2ND PLACE IS
82.9 DEGREES IN 1998). IN 2011...HOUSTON HOBBY HAS HAD THEIR 3RD
WARMEST MARCH... THEIR 2ND WARMEST APRIL...THEIR 8TH WARMEST
MAY...THEIR 2ND WARMEST JUNE...THEIR 3RD WARMEST JULY...AND THEIR
1ST WARMEST AUGUST.

FOR GALVESTON...
THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR SEPTEMBER (THROUGH 9/26) HAS BEEN
82.5 DEGREES WHICH CURRENTLY RANKS AS THE 15TH WARMEST SEPTEMBER
ON RECORD (1ST PLACE IS 84.6 DEGREES IN 2005). IN
2011...GALVESTON HAS HAD THEIR 7TH WARMEST MAY...THEIR 1ST
WARMEST JUNE...THEIR 2ND WARMEST JULY...AND THEIR 1ST WARMEST
AUGUST.

http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php ... glossary=1

[vbhoutex]

We had a high of 99 yesterday at the house with a whopping 0.05" of rain and a good lightning show. I just posted a report from Jeff Lindner in a thread titled INCREDIBLE TEXAS DROUGHT STATISTICS. Check it out. It is sobering and scary.

[jasons2k]

Maybe something later today? Everything now is basically offshore.

From Jeff:

Strong thunderstorms moving SW down the TX coast this morning.

Early this morning thunderstorms extend from near Texas City SSE into the Gulf of Mexico for over 150 miles and are surging SW parallel to the coast. These storms are developing along a southwestward moving outflow boundary from overnight convection in Louisiana. Best chance of rainfall over the next 2-4 hours will be along the coast from Galveston to Matagorda and inland 10-15 miles. Numerous outflow boundaries are being generated by this activity and this may set up favorable locations just inland for additional development late today. 00Z 4km WRF is suggesting that our western and southwest counties will have the better shot at storms this afternoon. Pattern is highly meso scale based and will just need to watch ongoing trends over the next several hours. Still looks like at least a slightly better shot at rainfall than the dismal display yesterday!

Decent cold front heads for the region on Friday. Models continue to wavier around with the idea of a band of showers/thunderstorms along this boundary as it moves southward into the deeper moisture over SE TX. Still not overly confident that rain chances will be much above 20-30% on Friday.

Front will bring much cooler and drier air into the region making for a cool weekend compared to record highs of late. Highs in the low to mid 80’s and lows in the 50’s appear likely over the weekend.

Fire Weather:
Will see slightly elevated fire weather conditions Saturday and Sunday with a very dry surface air mass and afternoon RH of 20% or less both days. NE winds of 10-15mph on Saturday and around 10mph on Sunday will promote elevated fire conditions. West of a College Station to Columbus line fire weather conditions may become critical especially on Saturday.

[southerngale]

I was surprised yesterday evening when a Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued until midnight. Then when I checked NWS, only 20% chance of precipitation. I kept checking radar, but never even saw a drop on the local radar. What a letdown after a glimmer of hope. Louisiana was hogging it all.

[southerngale]

[jasons2k]

OMG - lots of storms all around and a near-solid line to my north coming down. Could it actually rain and not skip right over me?? Please PLEASE let it rain

[Flyinman]

Well, the great and powerful Woodlands force field worked again. Heavy rain moving right for us and then splits. Now reforming to the Southwest. I did a brief downpour but already drying up. Now I really do believe I may not see any substantial rain in the years to come. Just unbelievable!

[PTrackerLA]

OMG it's going to rain in Houston! So happy for y'all!

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?prod ... X&loop=yes

[jasons2k]

Amazingly I had 1.00" here at the house. But the power went out around 4 and it's still out. Kinda reminds me of Ike. If it stays out all night I'll trade my contents in the fridge for the inch of rain though

[jasons2k]

Yeah!! Power back on! Maybe the storms up north can hold together but I'm not getting my hopes up since it's nighttime.

[southerngale]

Wow... I got an unexpected wild storm today. Hail, high winds, and sheets of rain. I ended up with less than 3 inches of rain during it... very much needed! The hail was fairly small, about nickel sized, or maybe a bit smaller... it was pinging off the patio roof and bouncing around in the yard and on the sidewalk. It had been a while since I'd seen ditches fill up and standing water in the yard, as well as branches fall. The electricity was knocked out in the area for several hours. I took a few pics with my cell phone since this is the most exciting weather I've had in a while. They're nothing spectacular, but I'll post a few anyway. The power wasn't out long enough to ruin any food, so just some clean-up outside to deal with and I don't mind at all.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

re pics ... out of curiousity has anyone down there seen tumbleweeds rolling around? If so are they common in the deep SE part of Texas?

Congrats on the rain!!! Looking forward to seeing those rain pics.

[southerngale]

A few pics taken after the storm...


Water in the yard!






Ditches full... from rain!




A pretty large limb that fell







There were some more off to the left, and a few that blew away, but it's kinda funny how these landed almost in a row.
(part of my palm tree is dead. )




A few branches that I had to drive around




It may not seem all that exciting, but with the norm being hot and dry lately, and me being starved for rain and storms, this was actually quite an exciting little storm. There were a lot of branches down in the neighborhood, from small to large, as well as other small debris scattered about. I don't know if there were others, but a few blocks from my house, I saw one tree split in two, toward the bottom, and I think it was laying on power lines. It was shortly after the storm ended and Entergy was parked near there at the time, and the power was out.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

I bet you were grinning ear-to-ear when those pics were taken!

[southerngale]

I bet you were grinning ear-to-ear when those pics were taken!

Oh yeah.

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

I bet you were grinning ear-to-ear when those pics were taken!

Oh yeah.

So where are those fellows from Houston with their reports and pics?????????

Still curious if tumbleweeds are ever sighted waaaay down there (looking at the pics above I have my doubts but.....

[Tireman4]

Well Ms Screamer, we in Humble did get rain. I did not take pictures, sorry about that. It cooled off quick afterwards. Right now, we are just waiting on the cooler drier air to filter in. We are spending the weekend in San Antonio for a mini-vacation ( me, wife and son) so this should be a respite from our daily grind.