FLASH FLOOD WATCH CONTINUES...

FORECAST DISCUSSION:

Hello everybody. Tropical Storm Bill thankfully moved through the central and eastern half of south central Texas late last night with relatively little fanfare…folks out east in Bastrop, Lee, and Fayette Counties saw the most rain from Bill with rainfall accumulations averaging between 2-4 inches across those areas…average of 1-2 inches fell across the IH35 corridor with some areas receiving significantly less, especially in the western zones of those counties.

Bill has been downgraded to a tropical depression and his center of circulation is now beginning to push over the DFW Metroplex…Bill is still producing some breezy winds and some heavy rains, but thankfully Bill is on the move and his rain is not as intense as it could be. What’s left of Bill will continue to move north into Oklahoma and then shift northeast into the Midwest where flooding concerns will become an issue as Bill’s moisture gets caught up with another storm system.

GOOD CHANCE FOR STORMS THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING

Even though Bill’s center of circulation has moved north of the area we are still under the gun today for some potentially very heavy tropical showers and thunderstorms. The atmosphere over central Texas is still plenty moist and unstable and I am concerned that some rotating rain bands may develop over the area this afternoon. These rain bands tend to train, or move over, the same areas over and over as additional storms fire along them…that’s why the FLASH FLOOD WATCH is still in effect for all of south central Texas through midday Thursday. Storms that develop today will have the potential to drop a quick 1-3 inches of rain. The sunshine we are seeing out there now will only help to further destabilize our atmosphere and provide additional fuel for shower and thunderstorm development this afternoon/evening.

This is a look at current Doppler radar and visible satellite imagery across the area…I’ve labeled Bill’s center of circulation with the big red “L” south of the DFW Metroplex…the area shaded in red is the region I am paying close attention to this afternoon for additional shower and thunderstorm development (I’ve also attached this image for your convenience):