HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Tropical Storm Arthur formed off the Texas coast and brought strong winds, coastal flooding and highs seas to the coastline Wednesday. It’s heavy rain is moving away from the upper Texas coast and into Louisiana where it’ll produce flooding overnight. Arthur is no longer a tropical system.
A few showers are still possible overnight but Arthur’s rain and wind are moving away. We’ll keep a partly to mostly cloudy sky overnight with temperatures falling into the upper 70s by Thursday morning. Thursday will be drier and much hotter with afternoon highs in the low-mid 90s under a mostly sunny sky. A Heat Advisory Heat Advisory begins at 11 a.m. Thursday and goes until 10 p.m. for all of Southeast Texas. Heat index values could range between 107 and 114 thanks to hot temperatures in the 90s and high humidity from recent rain.
What’s the latest on Arthur?
Arthur’s heavy rain and gusty winds are now located well south of us in the Gulf, far away from its circulation center in Galveston County. That circulation will move over us overnight but not bring us any more heavy rain or wind. As the storm tracks over Louisiana overnight, heavy rain totals up to a foot or more could flood some areas.
How much rain Southeast Texas pick up the last few days?
Most of Houston and Harris County averaged around 2 to 5 inches of rain since Monday. So areas though saw upwards of 6 inches of rain, and the same can be said for much of the region The exception would be for some communities south of I-10 who saw more tropical downpours Wednesday with some rain totals reaching upwards of 8 inches.
What’s the weekend look like after this rainy week?
Well, Saturday and Sunday there’s the chance for a few scattered showers and storms each day. But at this time neither is a complete washout nor are we excepting as heavy of tropical downpours. Both days will feature muggy mornings with temperatures starting in the mid-upper 70s with afternoon highs in the low 90s.
When will all of this tropical moisture clear out?
That depends on the track and speed of the low pressure expected to develop within the tropical moisture. The tropical air should be gone by Thursday, but it could occur at some point on Wednesday if the low pressure system speeds up more than currently predicted. Once that tropical moisture clears out, rain will still be possible, but it should be less intense than what the atmosphere will bring our way the next few days.
What are you tracking in the tropics?
Besides Tropical Storm Arthur in the western gulf, there’s not much else in the Atlantic. Get the latest track and how much rainfall we can expect in our tropical update Tropical Update page for our daily tropical weather discussion and forecast.
This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.