Archive for October 7th, 2011

Heavy Rain/Flooding Potential for West Texas this Weekend

Published on Friday, 07 October 2011 07:51

David Reimer

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This is the latest 5 day rainfall forecast from the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center based out of Washington DC. They’ve gradually been increasing their rainfall forecasts for the past few days, and the latest one is quite a bit of welcome news for Northwest Texas. Based on this forecast, the guys at HPC are expecting at least 5 inches of rain to fall from the Eastern Texas Panhandle all the way down into West Texas. Now we’re seeing even higher numbers, with rain possibly exceeding TEN inches from Abilene northward to Vernon, into Western Oklahoma. This is the type of rain that can put a dent in the drought. It won’t completely eliminate it, but it will definitely help. As previously discussed, there is still expected to be a sharp cutoff in the precipitation amounts along the I-35 corridor, with little to no rain just east of I-35 expected. Rainfall is expected to really pick up overnight tonight and last into the weekend.

Since we’re now talking about 6-10+ inch rain amounts, we now must begin to consider the possibility of some flash flooding issues. Just because we’re in an extreme drought does not negate the possibility of flooding with very heavy rainfall. In fact, because the ground is so dry it won’t be able to absorb water as quickly, thus runoff and flash flooding is a distinct possibility. I’d like to remind those living in Northwest Texas to consider areas that normally flood with very heavy rainfall and make the appropriate precautions, as some flooding is likely with these heavy rainfall amounts. Remember when driving and coming upon a flooded roadway, Turn Around, Don’t Drown!