By:
Dr. Jeff Masters,
1:22 PM GMT on August 06, 2008
The remains of Edouard continue to soak Texas, providing much-needed rain to regions under severe to exceptional drought. The heaviest rains fell near the coast in Baytown, where up to six inches were recorded (Figure 1). Additional rains of 1-2 inches are expected in West Texas today. Edouard has caused no significant flooding, and no reports of major damage have been received. The storm did knock out power to up to 37,000 people in Southeast Texas at the height of the storm. Overall, Edouard was more of a blessing than a bane, and Texas could use another tropical storm like this one to help with the drought. Rainfall has been only 15% of normal since May 1 in some regions of the state.
Figure 1. Radar-estimated rainfall from Tropical Storm Edouard.
Some rainfall amounts from Edouard, as of 1 am CDT this morning:
...TEXAS...
BAYTOWN EOC 6.48
SHELDON: SAN JACINTO RIVER BANANA BEND 5.99
PASADENA: BIG ISLAND SLOUGH 5.75
BAYTOWN: CEDAR BAYOU 5.27
BAYTOWN: GOOSE CREEK 5.08
PASADENA: WILLOW SPRING 5.08
SHOREACRES: TAYLOR BAYOU 4.73
LA PORTE: LITTLE CEDAR BAYOU 4.57
SHELDON: CARPENTERS BAYOU 4.49
HUNTSVILLE 3.32
HOUSTON (IAH) 2.81
HOUSTON (HOU) 1.99
...LOUISIANA...
LAKE CHARLES 1.87
SALT POINT 20SSW 1.28
Elsewhere in the tropicsThere are no threat areas to discuss in the tropical Atlantic. Two of our four reliable computer models predict the possible formation of a tropical depression off the coast of North Carolina along an old cold front on Saturday or Sunday. Such a storm would likely move northeastward out to sea.
Now that I'm back from vacation and ready for hurricane season's long haul, I'll be posting lots of extra material on hurricanes in addition to my daily updates. This begins tomorrow with the Atlantic hurricane season outlook for the next two weeks. I want to thank Bryan Woods for ably filling in for me while I was gone!
Jeff Masters