The out-of-control forest fires are close enough to Houston that we can smell the smoke (Bastrop State Park in the photo below is about 110 miles northwest of Houston). In Magnolia, a nearby and popular escape from urban Houston, thousands of acres have been consumed by fire. In the state’s capital, wildfires have forced thousands [...]
It’s hard to believe that it’s already September and by this time of year I’m definitely ready for the cooler fall weather to arrive. The first official day of fall is September 23 but it looks like our first cold front could push across the Houston area early next week. This certainly is some good [...]
If I wasn’t a meteorologist I would’ve sworn summer arrived at least a month ago with the above average temperatures we’ve been seeing in the Houston area. It’s been hot, dry and flat out just miserable to be outside most days—unless you’re out at the pool like I’ve been lately. Today is the first official [...]
Since February 1st, the Houston area – not to mention a grand swath of the south-central U.S. – has experienced one of the driest periods in recorded history and it looks like any change in the weather pattern will be slow to occur over the next month or two as strong upper-level high pressure remains over the area. The record dry spell is mainly being contributed to by a strong La Niña event (cold Pacific water) during the past winter into the spring. Even though La Niña is quickly dissipating, the residual effects of that weather pattern combined with very dry soil are enhancing the record-setting dry conditions over much of Texas.
Yesterday, I was a little more optimistic that drought-stricken Texas would finally get some beneficial rain from Tropical Disturbance 5, but that doesn’t look to be the case any more. It’s so close, yet so far away! The heaviest showers look to remain well south of the area now. At least our friends in South [...]
Part II: Yesterday, I talked about the weird weather we’ve been having lately – record tornadoes, record floods, late season snows, late season record lows. What’s going on? Does all this portend of more to come? Does it mean a more active hurricane season? Are there factors leading to the expected active hurricane season which are to blame for all of this unusually active/weird weather? ImpactWeather’s StormWatch Manager Fred Schmude helps shed some light on the situation.
Historic flooding is expected to continue across the Middle and Lower Mississippi River Valley throughout the week and, in many cases, through the end of the month of May. River levels have crested in many areas along the Ohio River, but this surge of water will continue to spread southward with damaging floods expected to continue to impact many areas of western Tennessee, Arkansas, western Mississippi, and eastern Louisiana.
On the heels of yesterday’s blog post (Wednesday’s, too) about the flooding and the flooding-to-come for the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, comes this: Rain in southern Texas by mid-May. No fooling.
Wildfires continue to burn across the great state of Texas and unfortunately it now appears conditions are getting worse. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor’s report this morning, the entire state is now under at least a moderate drought while 92% has reached severe drought status. Houston is the largest city in Texas and is [...]
Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been talking a lot about the drought across Texas and other parts of the Southwest. Matter of fact, just yesterday I posted on how the Texas drought was to blame for a wind storm that occurred across the eastern U.S. earlier this week. Is there an end in [...]