Texas Summer - 2014

[JDawg512]

Hopefully that's an outlire model. Even the GFS has started to trend wetter today. While it's not going to be a wash out this weekend, it does look like there is a chance at least for isolated to scattered showers. Maybe there is another shear axis trough in our future.

[ravyrn]

Porta, you've lived up to my signature so far Keep that Omega Block down for July and you'll be my hero!

[somethingfunny]

The Fort Worth NWS office produced a *really awesome* page about how and where rainfall impacts our watersheds here in North Texas.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/?n=wheredidtheraingo

Where The Rain Falls Makes All The Difference!



7 day rainfall image across North TexasA slow moving upper level disturbance and abundant moisture brought several days of rainfall across North Central Texas, beginning Saturday, June 21 and continuing through Wednesday, June 25. Figure 1 shows that many areas received 1 to 4 inches of rainfall, with some isolated totals in excess of 6 inches. While this rainfall was welcome, the scattered nature of the heaviest rainfall meant that some lakes experienced significant rises, while other lake levels did not rise at all. The levels at Lake Granbury experienced the greatest rise for the week ending June 26, with a 7 foot increase, or an increase from 50% capacity to 75% capacity. This rise was dramatically illustrated by this time lapse video. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HO32j-4roM&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

How did the rest of the lakes around the Metroplex respond to the rainfall?

Unfortunately, the answer is not much. The lakes which make up the greater Dallas Water Utilities District fell 0.2% while the lakes that make up the Tarrant Regional Water District only increased 1.5%. To understand why, we need to know where the critical watersheds are for each lake.



Figure 2 - Click For Larger Image

Much of the water supply for the greater Dallas area is derived from the following lakes and reservoirs: Fork, Grapevine, Lavon, Lewisville, Ray Hubbard, Ray Roberts, and Tawakoni. These watersheds are shaded orange on Figure 3. The Tarrant Regional Water District includes the water rights for the following lakes and reservoirs: Arlington, Benbrook, Bridgeport, Cedar Creek, Eagle Mountain, Richland-Chambers, and Worth. These watersheds are shaded yellow on Figure 3. Again notice the comparatively small region that catches the municipal water supply for much of the DFW Metroplex.

Figure 2 is a map of the North Texas region that shows where the drainage basin or watershed is for each lake. This map is pretty busy and colorful, so we’ll zoom into the region of interest below. But some interesting things stand out on this map, namely the watershed for Lake Livingston actually extends into and covers most of Dallas and Tarrant counties. This means that some of the rainfall runoff across a large section of Dallas and Tarrant Counties can eventually end up supplying water for the greater Houston area. You’ll notice many of the lakes around the DFW Metroplex have fairly small watersheds that don’t cover a lot of area. This means that heavy rain has to fall into a precise area to help increase the water supply for the DFW Metroplex.



Figure 3 - Click for Larger Image

Figure 4 zooms into the DFW Metroplex and shows the water sheds as the colored areas. You’ll see that most of the urban areas of Dallas and Fort Worth fall in the gray area which means that rainfall runoff across the Metroplex does not end up in the reservoirs that comprise the water supplies for much of the Metroplex. While rain that falls in this area does help to reduce water demand, it largely does not help water supply levels.

In Figure 5 we have overlaid the watershed regions as a hatched area onto the last week of rainfall. You’ll see the brighter yellow, orange, and red colors that indicate rainfall amounts in excess of 3 inches, missed the watershed regions for the primary water supply reservoirs for the Metroplex. Lake Benbrook was the only Lake that saw more than a 10% rise this past week, with all other critical water supply reservoirs for the Metroplex experiencing negligible changes.



Figure 4 - Click for larger image



Figure 5 - Click for larger image

That Figure 2 map with all of the individual lakes' watersheds is a thing of beauty and I would really love to see that map expanded across the whole state!

I never knew that rainfall across the core urban areas of Dallas and Fort Worth actually goes down to Houston's water supply. We should fix that lol... Even more shameful is the big orange region labelled "Gulf of Mexico"

[Portastorm]

Porta, you've lived up to my signature so far Keep that Omega Block down for July and you'll be my hero!

It's a Mutual Admiration Society thing, ravyrn. I'll do my best and you do the same and everyone -- except for wxman57 -- wins!

[aggiecutter]

Porta, you've lived up to my signature so far Keep that Omega Block down for July and you'll be my hero!

It's a Mutual Admiration Society thing, ravyrn. I'll do my best and you do the same and everyone -- except for wxman57 -- wins!

The Omega Block will be back this winter. That, I can guarantee.

[aggiecutter]

Looks like below normal temperatures to continue through mid July:

[ravyrn]

Was driving home just now from the store and was surprised to see lightning in cloudtops far to my east. Looked up on radar and we've got a couple thunderstorms along the border around and just south of I-20.

[BrokenGlassRepublicn]

Awakened at 4:00 am this morning by thunder and lightning. Nice downpour that lasted over and hour and added 1" to my rain guage. I hope more is on the way!

[JDawg512]

Been raining here in South Austin for about 30 min. A nice rain storm formed over head due to the outflow boundary coming from the storms north of Austin. Loving this early July rain.

[weatherdude1108]

Congrats JDawg512!
I have gotten a couple sprinkles and some thunder out of it. But the outflows have cooled it down to 77!

[Portastorm]

Been raining here in South Austin for about 30 min. A nice rain storm formed over head due to the outflow boundary coming from the storms north of Austin. Loving this early July rain.

Yeah JDawg, I was a few miles to your west in that little (but stout) cell. Was at the Walmart in Sunset Valley and encountered pea-sized hail, heavy rain, and winds 40-45 mph. Stayed in the PWC chase mobile until it lightened up enough to walk into the store. A very nice little rainmaker.

[weatherdude1108]

Been raining here in South Austin for about 30 min. A nice rain storm formed over head due to the outflow boundary coming from the storms north of Austin. Loving this early July rain.

Yeah JDawg, I was a few miles to your west in that little (but stout) cell. Was at the Walmart in Sunset Valley and encountered pea-sized hail, heavy rain, and winds 40-45 mph. Stayed in the PWC chase mobile until it lightened up enough to walk into the store. A very nice little rainmaker.

I'm jealous. But I am happy for you South Austinites!

[Ntxw]

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and happy fourth of July. Wild card in weather is about to occur in the West Pacific, what may be a recurving super typhoon (Neoguri). We all know the rule of thumb this time of year for those, look for some interesting weather mid July.

I have an inkling we're going to keep this No 100s streak alive for much of July.

[JDawg512]

Good, would love to see rain during the middle of the month.

[Portastorm]

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and happy fourth of July. Wild card in weather is about to occur in the West Pacific, what may be a recurving super typhoon (Neoguri). We all know the rule of thumb this time of year for those, look for some interesting weather mid July.

I have an inkling we're going to keep this No 100s streak alive for much of July.

Well, let's flesh this out a little more with respect to Neoguri and potential impacts on Texas weather in July. According to the very handy WSI site, their folks believe the super typhoon will help pump a large, strong high pressure ridge over the Western US. That, in turn, will provide opportunities for cold troughs of lower pressure to impact the Central and Eastern US with occasional rounds of storms, etc. The latest European weeklies also support this idea.

To me the biggest question will be determining how far south of an impact the actual "weather" from these transient troughs will have. One thing is certain: this is NOT the pattern we have seen the last few summers.

[weatherdude1108]

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and happy fourth of July. Wild card in weather is about to occur in the West Pacific, what may be a recurving super typhoon (Neoguri). We all know the rule of thumb this time of year for those, look for some interesting weather mid July.

I have an inkling we're going to keep this No 100s streak alive for much of July.

Well, let's flesh this out a little more with respect to Neoguri and potential impacts on Texas weather in July. According to the very handy WSI site, their folks believe the super typhoon will help pump a large, strong high pressure ridge over the Western US. That, in turn, will provide opportunities for cold troughs of lower pressure to impact the Central and Eastern US with occasional rounds of storms, etc. The latest European weeklies also support this idea.

To me the biggest question will be determining how far south of an impact the actual "weather" from these transient troughs will have. One thing is certain: this is NOT the pattern we have seen the last few summers.

I just cleaned out my French drain by side of my house that drains water from the corner by garage door, underground, and draining off through pop-up mechanism to backyard when water gets high enough. It has a square encasing at the drain area with rocks in it to act as a filter. Amazing how much dirt, leaves, roots, and mulch accumulate around the rocks in there over the years. I have noticed it draining slower and backing up, flooding garage when it overwhelms drain. Ran a hose and vent blower contraption to break it up in there and rinse off rocks. We'll see how it holds up in next heavy rain.

[JDawg512]

Hope everyone is enjoying a safe and happy fourth of July. Wild card in weather is about to occur in the West Pacific, what may be a recurving super typhoon (Neoguri). We all know the rule of thumb this time of year for those, look for some interesting weather mid July.

I have an inkling we're going to keep this No 100s streak alive for much of July.

Well, let's flesh this out a little more with respect to Neoguri and potential impacts on Texas weather in July. According to the very handy WSI site, their folks believe the super typhoon will help pump a large, strong high pressure ridge over the Western US. That, in turn, will provide opportunities for cold troughs of lower pressure to impact the Central and Eastern US with occasional rounds of storms, etc. The latest European weeklies also support this idea.

To me the biggest question will be determining how far south of an impact the actual "weather" from these transient troughs will have. One thing is certain: this is NOT the pattern we have seen the last few summers.

I just cleaned out my French drain by side of my house that drains water from the corner by garage door, underground, and draining off through pop-up mechanism to backyard when water gets high enough. It has a square encasing at the drain area with rocks in it to act as a filter. Amazing how much dirt, leaves, roots, and mulch accumulate around the rocks in there over the years. I have noticed it draining slower and backing up, flooding garage when it overwhelms drain. Ran a hose and vent blower contraption to break it up in there and rinse off rocks. We'll see how it holds up in next heavy rain.

How funny, I just got finished a few minutes ago clearing out a french drain that runs from a a gutter outlet past my back patio. I was looking at it earlier and thought it looked clogged and covered with dirt and debris so went ahead and cleaned it.

I was also watching the clouds building up to the east. Didn't get any rain over me yesterday, waiting to see if something decides to develop overhead before the sun goes down.

[TeamPlayersBlue]

I dont think the Typhoon is expected to recurve. Does this rule still take effect? Its taking a much more northerly track vs a NE track.

[wxman57]

I dont think the Typhoon is expected to recurve. Does this rule still take effect? Its taking a much more northerly track vs a NE track.

Typhoon Neoguri is already recurving. Heading north toward southern Japan.

[TeamPlayersBlue]

I dont think the Typhoon is expected to recurve. Does this rule still take effect? Its taking a much more northerly track vs a NE track.

Typhoon Neoguri is already recurving. Heading north toward southern Japan.

So is that the definition of recurveing? I thought it was 'recurving' when it exits the Japanese coast. Good to know! lol