Tagged: weather

South-Central Texas Flood Watch

The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for South-Central Texas, beginning today and lasting into Tuesday evening.

The flash flood impact should be highest overnight tonight into Tuesday morning. According to the advisory, average rainfall is estimated between one and two inches, with higher totals reaching into three to five inches.

“A flash flood watch is in effect for Monday evening through Tuesday afternoon for the area North and West and I-35 and HWY 90. There is a chance for locally heavy rain and flash flooding Thursday and Friday. Otherwise no hazardous weather is expected at this time.”

The weird weather systems that produced hail by the foot in the Texas Panhandle this week is hanging around. And while Austin isn’t expected to bear  the brunt of severe weather, it still could make for a wet weekend.

The National Weather Service writes that a tornado outbreak is likely across the nation’s midsection this weekend. A technical version of its forecast can be found here, but on its Facebook page, NWS writes:

The Storm Prediction Center is forecasting a high risk of severe weather, including strong tornadoes, over Kansas and Oklahoma on Saturday evening into the overnight hours. The overall risk area includes Nebraska, much of Iowa, western Illinois, northwest Missouri, and northern Texas.

A freak storm dumped a whopping four feet of hail on part of North Amarillo this week, says the National Weather Service.

KUT News’ StateImpact Texas project noted the strange occurrence, news of which proliferated across Facebook thanks to an incredible photo the National Weather Service office in Amarillo shared: an area firefighter standing next to a makeshift retaining wall filled to the brim with hailstones.

StateImpact Texas writes:

In an interview with MSNBC, Krissy Scotten, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service in Amarillo, denied that the photo just showed ice on top of rocks, as some skeptics asserted after seeing it. “I can assure you we do not have big rocks like that in West Texas,” she told MSNBC. She said the four feet of ice was caused by a lot of rain and water. “Anytime you have hail accumulate 2 to 4 feet high and get over three inches of rain, no matter how it occurs, it’s pretty incredible,” she told the news site. 

There’s a chance of severe thunderstorms in the area this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

Battling it out with high temperatures, storms could bring hail and damaging winds, and the NWS says as much as two inches of rain could fall per hour. Further away from the city, parts of the Austin/San Antonio region could also see golf ball size hail. 

The National Weather Service has called off a flash flood watch for Travis County, originally in effect until noon. 

In its forecast for the region, NWS writes: 

Caution Urged in Storm’s Aftermath

Storms pummeled the Austin area overnight. Mayor Lee Leffingwell has issued a statement “calling on Central Texans to be cautious and patient after storms moved through our city last night:”

View Extreme Weather Road Closures - 3/20/12 in a larger map

Extreme weather hit Austin overnight, creating several road closures and power outages. Here's what you need to know. 

Street Closures: 

Several closures are in effect, as listed by the  City of Austin Homeland Security and Emergency Management. We’ve mapped them above. 

Update (11:35 am): Austin street closures have changed, which we've reflected in the map and the list below.

Significant rain fall in Central Texas forced the overnight opening of flood gates on two dams in the Highland Lakes.

“Flood gates are still open on Wirtz and Starcke Dams," says Lower Colorado River Authority spokesperson Clara Tuma. "And we need to emphasize that there is a lot of swift moving water moving through the lakes down to Lake Travis. So people need to take precautions to protect people and property that might be affected by that water."