Houston flood risk as heat builds in Desert Southwest

The south-central U.S. continues to be a place of focus for extreme weather as a big blob of storms targets Houston today. Temperatures are rising in the Desert Southwest, where Phoenix is under extreme heat watch for temperatures approaching 115 this weekend.

Weather Watch

Houston storms. Southeast Texas woke up to rumbles and plenty of heavy rain as a storm complex targets the Houston region. There’s a Level 3 of 4 flood risk for the city and other nearby locations. About 3 to 5 inches of rain is forecast in the hardest hit spots, with some potential for more if storms repeatedly move over the same spot.

Hellish heat. An extreme heat watch covers much of southern Arizona, parts of southeast California and portions of the Grand Canyon region. Widespread high temperatures of 105 to 115 are expected Saturday through Monday.

Lightning links

Wall of dust towers over Texas.

Skier killed in avalanche on Alaska’s Mount McKinley.

A tale of two basins

On Wednesday, I wrote about the spurt of activity in the eastern Pacific Ocean over the past two weeks. With additional storm development anticipated, it’s becoming a notably fast start to the year there.

We can largely thank a continual wave train off Central America for the action. Likely influenced in part by the Madden Julian Oscillation, generally favorable conditions for development are set to persist ahead.

In the Atlantic it’s becoming an unusually slow start in our current climate. Only one year of the past decade of seasons waited this long for a named storm. Of course, that was last year, and it ended up quite intense and destructive.

It is still early for much. But for now, recent trends seem set to continue for at least another week or two.

About

Weekday morning newsletter by a journalist/forecaster. Connecting weather and climate change dots while occasionally stirring the pot.

Find this interesting? Forward it on and tell a friend!