Severe weather moves out of Houston area

More rain expected this weekend

HOUSTON – Severe weather moved into the Houston area Wednesday, but the worst of it is over.

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A flash flood watch is in effect for southeast Texas through midnight Wednesday in anticipation of widespread 2 to 3 inches of rainfall. 

About 3 inches of rain was the most the dropped in the Houston area. Katy received 3.16 inches, Brookshire got 3.24 inches, 1.76 inches dropped in Tomball, 1.86 inches of rain fell in Oyster Creek, 1.12 inches fell in Huntsville and Jamaica Beach got 1.76 inches.

The area from Bayou Vista to Jamaica Beach got 1.2 inches of rain in 15 minutes.

"This clearing trend, that will continue," KPRC Local 2 chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley said at 4 p.m. "Most of the heavy rain has moved on out and we are done with it."

There wasn't much flooding in the area, but it looked like there was a stream along a west Harris County road. Mayde Creek spilled out of its banks and caused flooding along Groeschke Road from Saums to near Mayde Creek High School.

The culprit was a potent low pressure system coming in from northern Mexico. As it intensified, it pulled in a Gulf moisture. The moisture, in combination with an abundance of atmospheric energy, resulted in widespread rain and storms.   

Because of the weather, the Houston Independent School District canceled all of its outdoor athletic events. All after-school activities were canceled at Kashmere, Lee, Jones, Washington, Milby, Furr and Davis schools. Houston Community College's School of Continuing Education canceled all of its afternoon and evening courses at all of its campuses. All classes at the northeast campus have been canceled for Wednesday afternoon and evening.

While we needed the rain to alleviate our current drought, a little sunshine would be nice now and then, too. We WILL, in fact, get a brief peek of sunshine before the clouds thicken up again and our rain chances spike over the weekend and into next week.

"Sunshine moves in for Thursday," Billingsley said. "It looks like we'll keep it for the better part of Friday, but don't get too used to it."

Look for nice weather Thursday and Friday, with highs near 70 under variably sunny skies.  Then, a pattern similar to that which we "enjoyed" the first week of the new year returns -- chilly, damp, and dreary!

The culprit is the same -- a deep trough of low pressure that will set up over the southwest. That low will pick up abundant Pacific moisture, hurl it across Mexico and into Texas. The Pacific air will ride over a shallow layer of cool air that slides into the Houston area on Sunday -- a process known as overrunning.  When the Pacific air overruns the cool surface air, it releases its moisture in the form of a chilly rain.

So, fair warning:  Early next week look for temperatures to struggle daily against a gray sky, chilly north breeze, and rain to break into the 50s.

Bring out the rain jackets, hats, and umbrellas ... again.

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