Texas Spring 2013

[weatherdude1108]

Extremely heavy rains this morning in northern Grayson County as storms back build and train over the same area. Two inches last night and two inches plus according to KXII TV met Steve LaNore. He says Lake Texoma will rise over a foot in next 24 hours or so thanks to this rain event and precip upstream.

I guess they'll get to pump some of that water down Dallas way this summer now that they are about done with the water treatment plant.

Where's the water treatment plant, and where are they pumping it? Dallas proper gets its water from Ray Hubbard which is very near its conservation pool level.

Must be nice to have all that water. Seriously, I'm happy for you all. At least some of us our sitting better.

Even after all the rain this past week that rose the Colorado River substantially upstream of Buchanan, the lakes have not budged one inch in these parts.

"Lake Conditions

As of 7:30 am, the level of Lake Buchanan is 990.64 ft msl which is about 23 feet below its historic May average of 1,013.58 ft msl. The level of Lake Travis is 628.14 ft msl which is about 42.9 feet below its historic May average of 671.07 ft msl. The total combined storage in the Highland Lakes two water storage reservoirs, Buchanan and Travis, is at 782,000 acre-feet, or 39 percent of capacity. The surface water temperature of Lake Travis as measured near Mansfield Dam is 71 degrees."

http://www.lcra.org/water/conditions/river_report.html

[Ntxw]

I've been pondering why it's so tough to fill central Texas Lakes around Austin. One guess I had was that your reservoirs are built within the Colorado river basin and the source is way out in the arid lands of West Texas and south plains. Maybe all the rains you get just flows straight downstream to the coast? If so why not build more reservoirs on the east side of town? I have little knowledge of the water system down there so these are just curiosity questions.

In NTX a lot of it is centered in the Trinity basin which starts here and is pretty much controlled the entire way before it gets to SE Texas, so when it rains, it fills a lot faster than you guys down there it seems.

[somethingfunny]

:uarrow: I've been pondering why it's so tough to fill central Texas Lakes around Austin. One guess I had was that your reservoirs are built within the Colorado river basin and the source is way out in the arid lands of West Texas and south plains. Maybe all the rains you get just flows straight downstream to the coast? If so why not build more reservoirs on the east side of town? I have little knowledge of the water system down there so these are just curiosity questions.

In NTX a lot of it is centered in the Trinity basin which starts here and is pretty much controlled the entire way before it gets to SE Texas, so when it rains, it fills a lot faster than you guys down there it seems.

It's difficult to pump water uphill. There's enough water in Toledo Bend Reservoir to basically supply the entire state, but good luck getting all that water back to the I-35 corridor. DFW constructed an artificial wetland southeast of Seagoville that diverts much of the wastewater we return to the Trinity and cleans it, before being pumped northward directly into Lake Lavon. http://www.wetlandcenter.com/waterreuse/default.html

We don't let Houston see none'o'dat.

As for Ray Hubbard... I've noticed that the water level never seems to change there. Even in the worst drought, it appears full... and in the worst floods, it never rises enough to do damage. Meanwhile, Lake Lavon frequently goes almost completely dry, or floods well beyond its' banks. I think it's because property values are so high along Lake Ray Hubbard, with nearly the entire shoreline developed... so it's become more of an artificial lake than a strict reservoir. The water level is tightly controlled by abusing Lake Lavon as a source of water or drainage.

[gboudx]

As for Ray Hubbard... I've noticed that the water level never seems to change there. Even in the worst drought, it appears full... and in the worst floods, it never rises enough to do damage. Meanwhile, Lake Lavon frequently goes almost completely dry, or floods well beyond its' banks. I think it's because property values are so high along Lake Ray Hubbard, with nearly the entire shoreline developed... so it's become more of an artificial lake than a strict reservoir. The water level is tightly controlled by abusing Lake Lavon as a source of water or drainage.

Ray Hubbard has indeed been low during the droughts. If you're familiar with the 66 bridge just past Liberty Grove, that portion of the lake was dry land 2-3 years ago before eventually filling back up. During periods of heavy rain it's levels are definitely controlled discharging into the Trinity heading south. I've seen them allow Lavon to rise almost 7' above normal level but Ray Hubbard never goes more that 1-2'.

As for Lavon, there hasn't been a drain from it in probably 2 years at least. I either drive 66 to/from work or 78 from Rockwall into Wylie and I haven't seen a water discharge in a long, long time. All I see now are the giant blue pipes they're running from the NTTMWD up to a point to get raw water from Texoma to avoid the zebra mussel infestation into Lavon.

[horselattitudesfarm]

Extremely heavy rains this morning in northern Grayson County as storms back build and train over the same area. Two inches last night and two inches plus according to KXII TV met Steve LaNore. He says Lake Texoma will rise over a foot in next 24 hours or so thanks to this rain event and precip upstream.

I guess they'll get to pump some of that water down Dallas way this summer now that they are about done with the water treatment plant.

Where's the water treatment plant, and where are they pumping it? Dallas proper gets its water from Ray Hubbard which is very near its conservation pool level.

North Texas Municipal Water District's primary water treatment plant is in Wylie that in turn gets their water from Lake Lavon (now 9 feet below conservation and the lowest in the DFW area) NTMWD supplies Mckinney, Allen, Plano, Murphy, Lucas, and other surrounding cities in Collin County. Lavon spills into Ray Hubbard. They are running a pipe directly into the treatment plant so they don't get Zebra mussels in Lake Lavon. I can't recall the last time we have had a 'frog-strangler' of a rain around here where the spillways on the local ponds and lakes are gushing torrents of white water. Seems to me as a kid I got to see that every spring and made it an annual tradition to go to the spillways to watch it. My oldest child is 10 and still hasn't seen anything like I used to as a kid. Of course, I've never seen anything like a 50's style drought either. By the way, if this drought really kicked off in '05 then its going on 8 years.

[Ntxw]

Interesting what drought can do and lack of some green vegetation. 100+ in San Angelo and Abilene, middle 80s just east of there in DFW





Lines up almost perfectly!

DFW hasn't hit 90 officially yet this year, we may get there tomorrow.

[horselattitudesfarm]

Interesting what drought can do and lack of some green vegetation. 100+ in San Angelo and Abilene, middle 80s just east of there in DFW

http://i40.tinypic.com/6qiiqw.png

http://i43.tinypic.com/30su3dh.gif

Lines up almost perfectly!

DFW hasn't hit 90 officially yet this year, we may get there tomorrow.

I wanna hope that light green is in the 60's and not the 100's on the temp scale on the left.

[Hurricaneman]

Interesting what drought can do and lack of some green vegetation. 100+ in San Angelo and Abilene, middle 80s just east of there in DFW

http://i40.tinypic.com/6qiiqw.png

http://i43.tinypic.com/30su3dh.gif

Lines up almost perfectly!

DFW hasn't hit 90 officially yet this year, we may get there tomorrow.

I wanna hope that light green is in the 60's and not the 100's on the temp scale on the left.

Definately 100s

[somethingfunny]

As for Ray Hubbard... I've noticed that the water level never seems to change there. Even in the worst drought, it appears full... and in the worst floods, it never rises enough to do damage. Meanwhile, Lake Lavon frequently goes almost completely dry, or floods well beyond its' banks. I think it's because property values are so high along Lake Ray Hubbard, with nearly the entire shoreline developed... so it's become more of an artificial lake than a strict reservoir. The water level is tightly controlled by abusing Lake Lavon as a source of water or drainage.

Ray Hubbard has indeed been low during the droughts. If you're familiar with the 66 bridge just past Liberty Grove, that portion of the lake was dry land 2-3 years ago before eventually filling back up. During periods of heavy rain it's levels are definitely controlled discharging into the Trinity heading south. I've seen them allow Lavon to rise almost 7' above normal level but Ray Hubbard never goes more that 1-2'.

As for Lavon, there hasn't been a drain from it in probably 2 years at least. I either drive 66 to/from work or 78 from Rockwall into Wylie and I haven't seen a water discharge in a long, long time. All I see now are the giant blue pipes they're running from the NTTMWD up to a point to get raw water from Texoma to avoid the zebra mussel infestation into Lavon.

I worked in Rowlett 2-3 years ago and come to think of it, I assumed that part of the lake was always just a marshy mudflat.

[gboudx]

North Texas Municipal Water District's primary water treatment plant is in Wylie that in turn gets their water from Lake Lavon (now 9 feet below conservation and the lowest in the DFW area) NTMWD supplies Mckinney, Allen, Plano, Murphy, Lucas, and other surrounding cities in Collin County. Lavon spills into Ray Hubbard. They are running a pipe directly into the treatment plant so they don't get Zebra mussels in Lake Lavon. I can't recall the last time we have had a 'frog-strangler' of a rain around here where the spillways on the local ponds and lakes are gushing torrents of white water. Seems to me as a kid I got to see that every spring and made it an annual tradition to go to the spillways to watch it. My oldest child is 10 and still hasn't seen anything like I used to as a kid. Of course, I've never seen anything like a 50's style drought either. By the way, if this drought really kicked off in '05 then its going on 8 years.

They won't be pumping water with that pipeline this summer. Right now the giant blue pipes are laid out end-to-end following an old rail line. I think I heard first Phase will be ready in January 2014.

[ndale]

:uarrow: I've been pondering why it's so tough to fill central Texas Lakes around Austin. One guess I had was that your reservoirs are built within the Colorado river basin and the source is way out in the arid lands of West Texas and south plains. Maybe all the rains you get just flows straight downstream to the coast? If so why not build more reservoirs on the east side of town? I have little knowledge of the water system down there so these are just curiosity questions.

In NTX a lot of it is centered in the Trinity basin which starts here and is pretty much controlled the entire way before it gets to SE Texas, so when it rains, it fills a lot faster than you guys down there it seems.

Much of our water for the lakes come from rivers that flow into them from the hill country, like the Pedernales, but since the hill country is affected by the same drought we are, well you see the problem.

[weatherdude1108]

:uarrow: I've been pondering why it's so tough to fill central Texas Lakes around Austin. One guess I had was that your reservoirs are built within the Colorado river basin and the source is way out in the arid lands of West Texas and south plains. Maybe all the rains you get just flows straight downstream to the coast? If so why not build more reservoirs on the east side of town? I have little knowledge of the water system down there so these are just curiosity questions.

In NTX a lot of it is centered in the Trinity basin which starts here and is pretty much controlled the entire way before it gets to SE Texas, so when it rains, it fills a lot faster than you guys down there it seems.

Much of our water for the lakes come from rivers that flow into them from the hill country, like the Pedernales, but since the hill country is affected by the same drought we are, well you see the problem.

The LCRA is looking at capturing runoff to the east through off-channel reservoirs. The reservoirs would fill faster with the runoff they get further east. Not much soil in the hill country, so wouldn't take much rain relatively compared to areas with deep soils to saturate it.
At the same time, more rain falls to the east than the west here. Hence the more feasible and reliable reservoir options to the east.

Anyway, the downstream rice farmers could use this captured runoff to alleviate dropping the levels of Travis and Buchanan year after year to supply the rice farmers, which has been going on since the lakes were constructed. Lake Travis was originally built for flood control and storage after a major flood hit downtown Austin. Lakes Buchanan and Travis are the only two lakes whose levels vary and are used to supply Austin and surrounding municipalities. The rest of the lakes in the Highland Lakes chain (Inks, LBJ, Marble Falls, and Austin) are all kept at a constant levels and used as pass through lakes. All the lakes have hydroelectric power generation capabilities as necessary. My LCRA lesson for the evening.

http://m.statesman.com/news/news/local/ ... str/nXrxf/

[TexasF6]

Austin is painted in the blackzone on the day 3 Outlook!

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day3otlk.html

[Ntxw]

Latest short term guidance shows the cap potentially breaking this evening in North Texas particularly north of I-20. If this is indeed the case there is a lot of low level shear (evident by high winds this afternoon). Could get dicey and potentially very big hail.

[Portastorm]

I know one thing ... the Mexican ag fire smoke has been worse this year than the last few. Very hazy conditions here in Austin the last two days with that faint smell of smoke in the air. I'm sure it's gotta be worse in San Antonio and especially in the Valley.

[Ntxw]

Cap held in much of Texas. Starting tomorrow night coverage of thunderstorms will grow as the main upper dynamics comes through and provide the best lift through Tuesday night. Northeast Texas seems to be the winners in terms of coverage.

[Ntxw]

I think the cap should break today as upper forcing is much better than yesterday. Most models agree on storm initiation along the Red River at least. I know we have some posters up that way and even areas as far south as DFW needs to be on alert this afternoon. The atmosphere is very unstable to say the least. Strong jet can be seen out in west Texas and strong low level shear from the south/se this is recipe for tornadoes.

[Rgv20]

I know one thing ... the Mexican ag fire smoke has been worse this year than the last few. Very hazy conditions here in Austin the last two days with that faint smell of smoke in the air. I'm sure it's gotta be worse in San Antonio and especially in the Valley.

It looks like its cloudy! Not looking forward to summer..currently 92F with a dew point of 71F with the expected high just shy of 100F

[SouthernMet]

Tornado in supercell north of Brownwood serious situation - possible debris

[SouthernMet]

Impressive cell NE of Brownwood moving into Comanche has stalled