The Good Thing About The Good Side

Well TS Humberto upgraded himself to a hurricane and then decided not to visit Houston. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Not sure how I lost track of what was happening but I read that around 1100P last night the warning was lifted for Harris County.

Humberto decided to go east and made landfall on High Island. Because it went east and NoRO is west of the hurricane, we didn't get any rain. We're on the good side of the storm. In fact, it was pleasant this morning when The Calvinator and I went for our morning stroll.

I was a bit late getting to Memorial Park 'cause I figured it would be pouring down rain this morning and set the alarm for later than usual. Instead of dripping with sweat by the 1/2 mile mark, I didn't start sweating until the 1 mile mark. THAT'S how I know the humidity level was lower than usual.

Humberto should be a reminder to all of us on the Gulf Coast. He popped up out of nowhere and within 24 hours went from being a low pressure system to a hurricane. There was a run on the grocery stores yesterday afternoon. I think many people were concerned about getting stuck at home due to flooding. Why didn't they already have their supplies?

I'll say it again: "Don't let your guard down. It's still hurricane season."

Strange coincidence...I'm doing a Tropical Depression Party (#46) on Saturday at Legacy's Resale Store. If Humberto had formed a few days later, I might have had an unexpected guest. Guess my timing was a bit off.

Waiting For Godot...uh, I mean Humberto

OK. So I sorta missed the last weather forecast and I've been looking at satellite images and someone is getting quite a bit of rain right now but it isn't raining in NoRO...yet. I did hear that if you live east of I-45 you had a high probability of getting hit hard. Well, I live about 3 miles west of I-45 so I don't nuthin' 'bout birthin' babies...I mean about storm tracking.

It has been odd today 'cause clouds are swirling all around us. Coming at us from different directions. That how it is with tropical storms. Ya just never know which way the rain is gonna come from.

It did rain for a bit while I was at LeFittes but by the time I finished there was some sun peeking through the clouds.

With all of these clouds swirling around me, I found myself humming Judy Collins' Both Sides Now.

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air

And feather canyons everywhere,

I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun they rain and snow on everyone

So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now

From up and down and still somehow

It's cloud's illusions I recall

I really don't know clouds at all

545P CDT 091207 Looking South from NoRO

555P CDT 091207 Looking south at from the NoRO/RO border

740P CDT 091207 Looking west from NoRO

Tropical Storm Humberto (12:52P CDT)

I was right! :-)

(from Click2Houston.com)GALVESTON, Texas -- A tropical storm formed off the coast of southeast Texas on Wednesday and is expected to move into the Houston area soon, KPRC Local 2 reported.

A tropical storm warning was issued from Port O'Connor, Texas to Cameron, La. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected within the next 24 hours.

A flash flood watch was also issued for part of southeast Texas until 7 p.m. Thursday.

The center of Tropical Storm Humberto was about 55 miles south-southwest of Galveston at latitude 28.3 N and longitude 95.1 W. The storm was moving toward the north-northwest at 6 mph and had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph.

"Basically we're looking at a 10-hour landfall at about 9 p.m. or a little after that," KPRC Local 2 meteorologist Anthony Yanez said.

The forecast models indicate the system will make landfall near Galveston.

"It would make landfall just east of Galveston Island," Yanez said. "If it flows a little bit more to the west or off to the east, it almost doesn't matter because no matter where this goes it's grabbing moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and moving it into southeast Texas."

The storm is expected to be directly on top of Houston on Thursday morning.

"It's moving slow and that is bad with a tropical storm," Yanez said. "You do not want a tropical storm moving slow because it is going to dump a tremendous amount of rain."

Wind speeds in Houston and Galveston were moving out of the north, and Yanez said that could cause trouble as the storm nears.

"What's going to happen is the storm is going to slow down because you have these competing winds that are moving against each other," Yanez said. "It's not the southerly wind where it can hit and race on out of here. Whenever you have that collision, it's going to slow this storm down.

Obviously, with a storm like this that could bring in some incredibly heavy amounts of rain."

Yanez said 5 to 10 inches of rain is likely over the next two days and some spots could see up to 15 inches.

"If we see that, we're not going to be able to handle that," Yanez said. "We just can't handle that much rain. It's moving at 6 mph. The formula is you divide that by 100. You could see 16 inches of rain. That would be the huge danger for us in Houston. That's not meant to scare anybody, that's just meant as a reality."

The system is expected to continue to affect the area through Friday."

This is something that we are going to be dealing with for quite a while," Yanez said.