Hurricane Patricia pumped a huge amount of moisture into the atmosphere. The moisture allowed a developing low over the Gulf of Mexico to have more than abundant rain.
Houston received up to 10 inches in some areas, which caused some flooding, but they were prepared, and it appears the damage will be minimal. Locally, it's in the three to five inch amount, which could have been more.
So, the storm is passing my area, most of the rain is in the Gulf of Mexico, and the future of the weather to the East, is soggy. Louisiana, and Mississippi are next.
I have the feeling the low will track across the South, and the East Coast can expect a Nor'easter. It's that time of year, and this storm can be a surprise for many. It's more intense than the normal low, and it will bring much bad weather for those in its path.
No doubt to be dubbed the Storm of the Century™ by Algore and his Merry Band of Glow Bull Wormers, even though it won't register in the Top 1,000 weather events in the last 150 years. People were surfing and drinking tequila shooters when the Unprecedented Monster Storm was coming ashore in Mexico. NOAA is losing more and more credibility with each passing day, which is a shame for a once-respectable, professional organization.
ReplyDeleteNOAA works with computer models that arrive at different scenarios, but they forecast the worst possible conditions to avoid blame for not "warning" everyone of the impending "disaster".
DeletePatricia, like most intense hurricanes, had a relatively small area of hurricane force winds, and the most intense were probably in an area only 20 to 30 miles across. That area was in an isolated area, and when it came ashore, the winds immediately started falling, due to the mountains at the landfall location.
The moisture placed in the atmosphere was the concern. The developing low over the Gulf of Mexico was not tropical, but the winds, with the possible rainfall accumulations could have led to rainfall amounts of over a foot in some locations. Luckily, these rain amounts stayed over the Gulf, and most places received anywhere from 2 to 8 inches over a 30 hour period of time.