The weather is messing with Texas in extremely rare ways with a waterlogged Tropical Storm Bill making landfall on Tuesday morning between Houston and Corpus Christi, threatening to bring another foot of rain to a state that saw its wettest month on record during May.
In fact, there is so much water in Texas' rivers, lakes and soils that T.S. Bill may not weaken significantly over land right away, as most tropical weather systems do. It may even draw enough energy from inland moisture and a tropical atmosphere in place over Texas and Oklahoma to intensify over land, an example of what scientists call the "brown ocean effect."
@KPRC2 #quintanabeachcountypark #TropicalStormBill pic.twitter.com/JWCDEQ33rF— Patty Brinkmeyer (@PattyBrinkmeyer) June 16, 2015
Looks like it's starting to get bad out there. This is Toddville Road in Seabrook. @abc13houston pic.twitter.com/M0TSywDiUn— Chris Nocera (@13ProducerChris) June 16, 2015
@MichaelBerrySho Rawlings Bait Camp in Matagorda. pic.twitter.com/nDdXgGB5WB— J Perry (@jlperry_jr) June 16, 2015
The National Hurricane Center says T.S. Bill should weaken to a tropical depression by Tuesday night, however. Though people often underestimate tropical storms due to the relative weakness of winds when compared to hurricanes, they have a history of producing killer floods in Texas. Tropical Storm Allison struck the Houston area in 2001, dumping nearly two feet of rain in some places.
The rains from that storm caused several billion dollars' worth of damage and killed 24 people.
The heavy rainfall is the biggest threat from Bill, since the 60 mph sustained winds are not likely to do major damage. However, a few gusts to hurricane force (74 miles per hour) cannot be ruled out.
The storm is expected to move slowly inland toward Austin and the Dallas area through Tuesday night, dumping between four and 12 inches of rain as it does so. Pinpointing the areas of heaviest rainfall in advance is difficult to do, but forecasters are warning of the potential for more deadly flooding, particularly in central to eastern Texas and eastern Oklahoma.
The floods during the month of May killed more than three dozen people in Texas, Oklahoma and nearby states.
Oklahoma, which also saw its wettest month on record during May, is going to be hit by T.S. Bill, or its remnants, on Wednesday, and in fact a plume of unusually moist air is likely to extend all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to New England by the weekend, the way a major artery pumps blood through the human body. This moisture source will lead to flash flooding in many other states, not just the ones seeing the storm first hit.
Inland flooding 2nd only to storm surge in tropical cyclone deaths. High flood risk with Bill. http://t.co/7e9BAZsIGc pic.twitter.com/vCldIg7gg3— Natl Hurricane Ctr (@NWSNHC) June 16, 2015