Tropical Storm Bill [tmi3rd]

Well, folks, we've got tropical weather (in case you hadn't noticed already), so I'm belatedly getting to this. I'm tmi3rd, and Tropical Storm Bill is no big deal in terms of winds, but is exactly what Texas DIDN'T need in terms of rain.

More below the fold...

First of all, sorry about not getting to this last night- the tmi3rds were away from any Internet last night, and it got going while we were out of contact.

Bill is barely a tropical storm as of the 11 PM EDT advisory. Top sustained winds are 40 mph, but as mentioned above, that's not what I'm concerned about.

Bill will be a slow-moving tropical depression by the time the next advisory comes out from the National Weather Service, and that means that Houston, Austin, Dallas, Shreveport, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Springfield (MO), and St. Louis should see some pretty stiff rainfall totals.

I'm not going to try to predict rainfall totals to you- that's an exercise in futility- but what I want to impress upon you if you're in Bill's path is that most of the core convection- the thunderstorms that make up the core of the system- coalesce at night and routinely produce two to four inches of rain AN HOUR.

If you're in a low-lying area, you need to be prepared to move to high ground very quickly, and if you've got any doubts about the water coming up around you, you need to make sure anything you care about is at least four to six inches off the ground and/or out of the basement (I'm looking at you, Oklahoma Morons).

As you can see from the graphic, Bill is going to hang around through Wednesday and Thursday before picking up speed on Friday and exiting to the east. Because it's June in Tornado Alley, we can't rule out the possibility of isolated tornadoes in the northeastern quadrant of the storm, but I want to reiterate to you: FLOODING KILLS THE MOST PEOPLE IN TROPICAL SYSTEMS. Do NOT drive through flooded areas, and if you can find an excuse not to go out in this crap, please don't- emergency crews will have their hands plenty full enough with idiots that want to test Darwin's theory as it is. Don't add to their workload, please.

This will likely be our only mention of this on the blog unless the damn thing just stops completely (which is very unlikely). Y'all stay safe, and if you need to ask me a question, hit me up on Twitter.

Have a good one!

-tmi3rd

posted by Open Blogger at 12:08 AM

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