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Edouard brings welcome rains to Texas

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 tropics
There 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
Double Rainbow - on the leading edge of Edouard
Double Rainbow - on the leading edge of Edouard
This rainbow is the longest lived rainbow I've ever seen. I watched it for over a half hour. It never went away, it made a full arc, faded a bit in the middle, then came back strong as a double. Was too close to get the full bow, but it was a complete bow in all these pics. What a beautiful gift- Couldn't help but just stand there and give thanks to the Lord for all He's made.
Rain? Maybe, here comes Edouard.
Rain? Maybe, here comes Edouard.
Clouds started rolling in mid afternoon- high clouds. Then around 6pm the more helpful looking variety began to show up. These clouds were in the SW and were raining on Mansfield or Arlington. For awhile the rain shafts weren't touching the ground- then finally they did- made me happy just to see it across the lake! On the way home from the lake there was a rainbow- it lasted well over half an hour! Pictures of it in this group.

The views of the author are his/her own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Weather Company or its parent, IBM.