Category Archives: Weather/Climate

Nice wet May

Posted on June 1, 2007 | Comments Off on Nice wet May

About 7 inches of rain fell at the airport and another 7 inches at Camp Mabry last month (the official Austin raincounter sites of the National Weather Service), about 2 inches more than normal for a May, which is usually wet. Seablogger says the rains have already come to droughty Florida, although TS Barry isn’t due ashore (near Tampa) before tomorrow morning. Its huge circulation is well ahead of its core. Two named storms already this year. Makes you wonder if it really will be as rough as forecast, or a bust like last year. Texans often are in the embarrassing position of having to wish for rain from tropical storms or hurricanes (knowing someone on the coast will have to get blasted first) but not this year. We’re flush with wet. Probably a tipoff that we’re headed for more. Feast or famine is the weather rule in Texas.

Comments Off on Nice wet May

Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged , , ,

From dry to wet

Posted on May 28, 2007 | Comments Off on From dry to wet

LakeTravisRise.JPG

Lower Colorado River Authority graph shows how far and how fast Lake Travis has risen since last Tuesday, thanks to the weekend storms in the watershed. The lake is now forecast to hit 684 feet above mean sea level by Thursday, without any more rain. That would be a rise of 11 feet. I didn’t bother to visit the marina this morning, figuring the parking lot would be under water. Certainly is now. Ah, well, I have other chores including a backyard to mow when the wet grass dries out by tomorrow.

Comments Off on From dry to wet

Posted in Rancho Roly Poly, Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged , , ,

Lake on the rise

Posted on May 28, 2007 | 4 comments

The rancho and most of the area has been spared any severe flooding so far, but Lake Travis is rising like a rocket. According to the LCRA: the Llano River is running more than 12,000 cubic feet per second, when a few hundred is normal. The Llano flows into the upper lakes whose dams pass their excess downstream to Travis. Meanwhile the Pedernales, which flows directly into Travis, is running more than 6,000 cubic feet per second, when a few hundred is normal. Meanwhile, Lake Travis is at 681.22 feet above mean sea level, which is full–for the first time since April, 2005.

The parking lot at Anderson Mill marina was mostly underwater Sunday morning. The lake was more than 12 inches lower at that point. The extra foot could have drowned the rest of the lot. The river authority is keenly aware of all this and may have to open another gate or two on the dam to slow the rise. They don’t like to squander the water, and so have been releasing only enough to generate electricity. But opening more may be necessary to prevent flooding on the lake. Which, in turn, might mean dock and other shoreline damage to folks who live downstream on Lake Austin. A complicated juggling act.

4 Comments

Posted in Weather/Climate

Tagged , , , , , ,

The waves

Posted on May 27, 2007 | Comments Off on The waves

The waves of rain some meteorologists predicted seem to have made their appearance on KVUE’s Web radar, with showers at the rancho for the first time all day. But the forecast rain totals were revised downward from as much as 10 inches to as little as 2 to 4 inches. That’s good because Lake Travis is more than full for the first time in two years. The Lower Colorado River Authority has opened the floodgates at Mansfield Dam. It’s been a wild three months as the lake has come back from the drought of 05-06. Any great additional rain now in the lake’s watershed could start flooding homes out there on the shoreline. Looks like the Turnback Canyon race is going to get wet tonight. They’re probably asleep. They have to get up later this morning to retrace the whole 19 miles they came today.

Comments Off on The waves

Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged , , , , ,

Water world

Posted on May 25, 2007 | Comments Off on Water world

Parts of the Hill Country around Fredericksburg (now at 10 inches) and Johnson City are soaked, after waves of rain in the past 24 hours, especially where the Pedernales River is out of its banks. The death toll hasn’t risen much since this morning, so people must be heeding the weather service slogan regarding low-water crossings: "Turn around, don’t drown." Lake Travis has risen two feet since Monday, mainly since Thursday. But LCRA expects it to rise another 5 to 6 feet over the weekend, which would be at or just below its flood pool elevation. And that’s just from what’s already fallen, with more expected.

The lake might flood by Memorial Day, or LCRA open the flood gates and pass the water downstream through Austin. Travis probably will be closed to boating, due to the debris and the high bacteria count, as most of the water is coming from the Pedernales and there’s a lot of cows and sheep out there. The rancho has picked up only a bit more than 1.5 inches. But the radar is clear, for now, with most of the rain parked well to the north. KVET/KASE meteorologist Troy Kimmel says we could get up to 10 inches more by Monday, primarily south of Austin, as a series of lows combine with a stationary front to our north to fetch moisture in from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific, and trigger more rain.

Comments Off on Water world

Posted in Weather/Climate

Tagged , , ,

Memorial Day flood

Posted on May 25, 2007 | 2 comments

No one who lived through it–including me–has forgotten the Austin flooding of May 24, 1981. Though there have been plenty of other floods since then, that remains the Memorial Day weekend biggie of memory. So, since intermittant heavy rains began yesterday, and are forecast to continue today and through the weekend, it’s natural to wonder if we’re about to have another one. Five people already have died from flooding northwest of Austin. It’s pretty normal to have rain on Memorial Day weekend, as LCRA meteorologist Bob Rose notes. But he also says the threat of flash flooding this weekend is real. Since more than an inch has already fallen in the Austin area–and a whopping 9 inches in parts of the Hill Country, where at least one person has drowned–we’re not taking this one lightly.

2 Comments

Posted in Texana, Weather/Climate

Tagged , , ,

Thunderboomers

Posted on May 16, 2007 | Comments Off on Thunderboomers

Awakened by thunder several times last night, I was nevertheless surprised to see on the LCRA’s internet rain chart this morning that up to 2.5 inches had fallen across the area by dawn. Meteorologist Bob Rose says it could be the last significant cold front for a while:

"We need to really appreciate this spell of cooler weather because it’s likely to be one of the last we’ll see before…the onset of summer’s heat that will occur over the next couple of weeks. Texas weather, you gotta’ love it!"

Well, I love the spring and the fall. Not so much the inbetweens. And spring is almost over. 

Comments Off on Thunderboomers

Posted in Weather/Climate

Tagged ,