I gotta go to bed soon (gotta wake up at 4:30 tomorrow!), so this post is going to be brief. But there’s no way I could nod off to sleep without writing something about this incredibly strong storm.
Image created using AWIPS 2 sensor aboard GOES-16 satellite.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall at the northern tip of San Jose Island at 10 pm CDT time tonight as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 130 mph, making it the first landfalling Category 4 storm over the US since Hurricane Charley devastated Punta Gorda, Florida in 2004. A station in Compano Bay 8 miles NNE of Rockport recently reported a 117 mph gust, but this station and Rockport itself are currently in the eye of the storm.
Credit: NWS Mesowest
But amazingly, the main threat with Harvey is not the extremely strong winds, but torrential rain and flooding as it stalls over the area. Harvey is currently battering the area with extremely heavy rain, and many places have already seen over half a foot of rain in the past 24 hours.
Credit: NWS
Credit: NWS
Current forecasts have Harvey staying in essentially the exact same location through Tuesday night, and because there is no terrain to speak of and Harvey will hang near the Gulf of Mexico, it will weaken relatively slowly into a tropical storm and may even strengthen slightly in the Monday/Tuesday timeframe as it rotates back towards the Gulf of Mexico. Harvey will likely experience the “brown ocean effect,” which is where a large amount of latent heat is released from saturated soils and standing water caused by the torrential rains from the storm itself, providing Harvey with a moisture source to help maintain its tropical characteristics.
Credit: National Hurricane Center
By Wednesday evening, some parts of Texas could have seen 2-3 FEET of rainfall. If current model runs are any indication, Harvey will go down as one of the most destructive flooding events on record.
I’ll have much more on this extraordinary storm tomorrow.
Charlie
