Scattered thunderstorms are possible this afternoon across the southern Edwards Plateau, South-Central Texas, east into the Coastal Plains, and Southeast Texas. Most individual storms will move east/southeast through the evening hours. Some storms may be strong to severe with large hail, localized damaging winds, and a non-zero risk of a spinup tornado. Nearly constant cloud-to-ground lightning, along with heavy rainfall, is a guarantee for any thunderstorm.

Click the ? or static image for a full animated version. Simulated weather model radar this afternoon through Monday morning from the High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR).

As we continue into tonight, thunderstorms will weaken and start to die down across the southern portions of the state. Into Monday morning, we will feature southerly winds, bringing a tropical-like environment north across the eastern seventy-five percent of Texas. That environment will continue advancing north into Oklahoma and Kansas. Spotty showers, drizzle, and low clouds will be widespread tonight.

Monday afternoon through Monday night will bring a severe weather outbreak to Oklahoma and Kansas. Northern portions of Texas are on the southern edge of the risk, where we may see one or two storms fire up during Monday’s evening hours. If any storms do manage to develop, they would likely become severe with a threat of destructive hail and localized damaging winds. The most likely outcome is that storms remain north of the Red River. Most of Texas should remain thunderstorm-free on Monday.

CNN
 — 

As rivers swell across South Texas, leaving homes and businesses flooded and thousands of people displaced, residents are looking skyward Sunday as the threat of more rain looms.

At least 224 people have been rescued from homes and vehicles in Harris County, Texas, an official said Saturday night, with evacuation orders and flood watches in place, as more rain expected descends on the state Sunday, with a bull’s-eye of excessive rainfall over the already waterlogged Houston area.

No deaths or serious injuries have been reported, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo told CNN, adding 153 pets have also been rescued during the deluge.

“It’s been really sad to see the impact of people’s livelihoods, homes, infrastructure as well as just the public infrastructure,” Hidalgo told CNN Saturday.

“We’re really asking folks to give it a minute before they go back home.”

Most of the weekend’s rain fell over western and central Texas, but there’s a significant chance of heavier rain in the greater Houston area Sunday.

An additional 1 to 3 inches of rainfall possible by Monday morning, according to the Houston National Weather Service office. Isolated areas could see up to 4 to 8 inches of rainfall.

“Because of multiple rounds of heavy rain over the past week, flooding may be seen earlier than would be expected under typical conditions. Rainfall today will continue to exacerbate existing river flooding,” warned the Houston weather service office.

The rainfall amounts in the region have been huge over the past week, with some areas picking up two months worth of rain in five days. The weather service listed some of the rainfall totals it collected:

There is relief on the horizon, however. The rest of the week’s forecast for Houston is showing dry weather and warm temperatures from Monday through Saturday, with lots of sunshine to help dry the region out.

This week’s storms were just the latest in a series of brutal weather events that have pounded the state since early April. Dozens of tornadoes have hit from the Panhandle to the Gulf Coast, some areas of the state have been pounded with softball-sized hail and months of rain has fallen in East Texas in intense spurts, causing rivers to rise to levels not seen since the devastating floods of Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Mandatory evacuations are in place in counties in and around the Houston area, as local officials make comparisons to past disasters. The flooding is “85% worse than Hurricane Harvey,” Emmitt Eldridge, San Jacinto County’s emergency management coordinator, told CNN. “This has been a historic flood for Walker County. We have flooded more from this event than we did during Hurricane Harvey,” Sherri Pegoda, Walker County’s deputy emergency management coordinator, said.

A mandatory evacuation order remains in place for low-lying unincorporated areas of Polk County through Sunday evening, emergency managers said in a Facebook post, as are homes along rivers in Harris and Montgomery counties.

Disaster declarations are active for over a third of Texas counties after Gov. Greg Abbott expanded the storm-related declarations in response to the flooding, according to a news release. Additional counties could be added in the coming days, particularly with more storms in the forecast.

Columns
Kendall Rogers – May 5, 2024

AUSTIN, Texas — We still have a couple of weeks left to the regular season, and this year’s Texas team has already had several moments where they’ve been at a crossroads.

That trend continued Saturday in a huge series-clinching win over Oklahoma State, but it began quite some time ago.

After not allowing a run in three games to Cal Poly at home earlier this season, the Longhorns responded by putting together some poor performances at the Astros Foundation Classic. The next weekend, the Longhorns, while having plenty of doubters, responded by hitting the road and taking a series from[…]