Heavy Rains Coming...

Thanks goodness I don’t have to put myself through the stress of prolonged severe weather events anymore.  I can watch from the comfort of my home just as my viewers have for nearly 40 years.   What goes on behind the scenes in the weather office  is hard to describe.  It can range from answering a simple phone call to trying to figure out radar signatures in a rapidly changing situation.   Here’s what my memory tells me regarding most PAST heavy rain events that caused serious flooding.   1) They weren’t forecast 2-3 days beforehand  2)  We didn’t follow the rains from west to east.  3) They happened in April & May and developed right upon us as a frontal boundary ran out of eastward push allowing training of echoes.    Having said all that, it doesn’t mean we won’t get the GFS prediction of 8-12+” by Saturday morning.   What I have been seeing today is waves of energy rotating around the large upper low that is finally beginning its lift out of Mexico.    The key to not flooding is having the rain spread out over many hours so our pumps can catch up.  Remember our pumping capacity is 1” the first hour and .50”  per hour after that.   What usually happens is 2-3” will fall in the first hour overwhelming our pumps, but then we get a break allowing the pumps to “catch up”.    What you should be monitoring Thursday & Friday is the position of the heavy rain cells.  That is easily done on our FOX 8 weather app.   When you see those cells near your location, get yourself & your family home with your cars up on higher ground.  Nobody should say I was caught off guard by the heavy downpours.  In this day of cell phones, take some personal responsibility to keep your family safe.  Our weather team can only do so much.  The rest is up to you.

 

Here we are still technically in Winter, yet the predictions are coming out for a very active 2016 hurricane season.   Mercy, can’t we just enjoy Spring first before we build up the anxiety of August & September?   It’ll be here soon enough.