Independence and precipitation for the holiday
Published 3:56 pm Tuesday, July 3, 2018
By Lorenzo Salinas
Independence Day may be rained out, but the rest of the week is looking just as waterlogged.
The 4th of July week in Southeast Texas is expected to receive plenty of rainfall courtesy of a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico. Meteorologist with National Weather Service Jared Rackley said rainfall should not exceed 3 inches.
“The latest forecast is going to be an inch and a half — double that in a worst case scenario if heavy thunderstorms go over the area,” Rackley said.
An estimated 1-2 inches of rain was expected Wednesday for the area, with a total amount of 3-4 inches to last throughout Thursday.
“The good news is for right now it looks like the storms are going to dissipate in the late afternoon, early evening time,” Rackley said of Independence Day. “So, people who are looking to maybe get their fireworks to go off that night might have a little sliver of good news there.”
For residents who may remember the lingering storms of the past year, they may take some solace in that the week’s impending storms are expected to pass through the area somewhat quickly — then pass over the area quickly again and again.
“They are moving quickly, but they’re going to be around going into the weekend,” Rackley said. “They’re tapping into a tropical moisture we have in the (Gulf).”
Rainfall is predicted at 80 percent Wednesday, then oscillating between 50 and 60 percent for the rest of the week going into the weekend.
Rackley described the moisture in the Gulf as a “tropical trough,” something that would bring a lot of moisture to the area but nothing to worry about in terms of excessive winds.
Southeast Texas is expected to receive more than one tropical trough in the following days.
“It’s moving along the coast going west. It’ll be gone in the next several hours to (make room) for the next one.”
Rackley noted that if there were an upside to the rainy forecast for the week, it would be the slightly cooler temperatures.
“This means we’re looking at temperatures in the upper 80s instead of the lower 90s. We’re going to have heat indexes in the mid-90s instead of 101 or 105,” he said.
According to the latest data from National Weather Service, rainfall is expected throughout Saturday with at least a 50 percent chance each day. Sunday’s forecast is expected to drop that chance of percentage to 40.
