Severe weather, heavy rain possible this weekend

HOUSTON – We’re still expecting a wet weekend in southeast Texas. Scattered showers continue to move through the area tonight, but we aren’t expecting flooding, as the coverage is not widespread and the ground is unsaturated.

Over the weekend, we’ll get rounds of heavy rain. Possibly early Saturday morning, early Sunday morning, and Monday morning, but timing is very uncertain at this point.

[CHECK THE INTERACTIVE RADAR HERE]

The heavy rain will be generated by a vigorous disturbance that will slowly drift from northwest Mexico through Texas over the next three days.

Two to five inches of rainfall are possible in southeast Texas on Saturday and again Sunday. Expect an additional one to two inches Monday morning.

Because the ground in Southeast Texas is very dry, the first batch of rain on Saturday is not the biggest concern.

"If the ground becomes saturated this weekend and then we have lots of heavy rain on Sunday night into Monday morning, we could end up in a situation where the ground is saturated and it's hard for it to drain and we end up with street flooding and flash flooding," Michael Walter, public information officer for the Houston Office of Emergency Management, said.

At the height of the spring storms and floods, several of the deaths were people who drove into deep water and drowned.

One of those areas was near the 610 West Loop near Highway 59 where gates on the road are now in place. Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said the gates will be closed if water gets dangerously high.

"On Loop 610 where the Southwest Freeway intersects, one of those is a TxDOT underpass and one is Metro. Well, now whoever gets there is going to barricade both of them," Emmett said.

This will be the first substantial rain for our region since the middle of August. Emmett suggests that if you have leaves and other debris possibly blocking gutters and drains near your home, now would be a good time to clean them out to give yourself a better chance of weathering the storm.

Since the middle of August, the area has had only one day at Bush Intercontinental Airport where an inch or more of rain fell. Our area is considered abnormally dry, and in some areas, in moderate drought. 

On Monday morning the heavy rain could also include severe weather in the form of gusty wind or isolated tornadoes.  Frequent lightning will obviously create a hazard, too.

Temperatures will not move much over the weekend because of the rain and cloudy skies.  Expect the mercury to hover between the mid 50s and low 60s all weekend.

A Coastal Flood Watch for higher than normal tides is in effect Friday and Saturday. A Flash Flood Watch is possible for the Houston area.

The city of Houston has already canceled two events this weekend: The Moody Park Touchdown Tour on Dec. 3 will be rescheduled for Saturday, Dec. 17, and the Cigna Sunday Streets event on Dec. 4 in the Garden Oaks and Oaks Forest areas will be rescheduled for spring of 2017.

Holiday on 19th Street in the Heights is rescheduled from Saturday to next Friday, Dec. 9, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Pasadena’s Holiday Lighted Parade has been rescheduled from this Saturday to Saturday, Dec. 10 at 7 p.m. 

A Katy Old Fashioned Christmas Festival is rescheduled until Saturday, Dec. 17 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Flying this weekend? Be sure to check for flight statuses here.

Check an interactive traffic map for incidents and traffic jams here. And always remember to turn around, don't drown when you see high water on roads.

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Britta Merwin stresses that timing could change after the first wave of storms. Check out her conversation on Facebook Live below:

Heavy rain in the weekend forecast, be ready for forecast changes and the potential for flooding and severe weather! LIVE update with Britta

Posted by KPRC2 / Click2Houston on Friday, December 2, 2016

 


About the Authors:

Meteorologist, runner, triathlete and proud Houstonian.