How is the weather?

[Turner]

A tiny note found somewhere in the massive, global news feed about the Harvey hurricane:
while all media attention is on that, 8 million people are fleeing floodings in Bangladesh.

[Karl Henning]

Ghastly.

[bwv 1080]

A tiny note found somewhere in the massive, global news feed about the Harvey hurricane:
while all media attention is on that, 8 million people are fleeing floodings in Bangladesh.

But thankfully we have morally superior people on the Internet to remind us of these things

[Brian]

If you are in a place that floods if you get 4 inches of rain in a day what would you expect if they were forecast is for over 20 inches and now is going to be for over 50?  Tell people to stay and hope it does not happen?

Last time Houston told its citizens to flee, the traffic looked like this:



And more people died in the traffic - when waters rose on the roadways and left them trapped in cars - than died at home.

[bwv 1080]

Last time Houston told its citizens to flee, the traffic looked like this:



And more people died in the traffic - when waters rose on the roadways and left them trapped in cars - than died at home.

yes, but actually there was no water - the storm (Hurricane Rita) veered east and left the city high and dry.  Over 100 people died from heat exposure, traffic accidents and other issues completely unrelated to weather.  If these storms had hit people on the road like there would have been a catastrophic loss of life.

[Karl Henning]

Last time Houston told its citizens to flee, the traffic looked like this:



And more people died in the traffic - when waters rose on the roadways and left them trapped in cars - than died at home.

Well, that would have been catastrophic this week.

[Karl Henning]

The flooding will expand, and it will be slow to recede.

[Gurn Blanston]

yes, but actually there was no water - the storm (Hurricane Rita) veered east and left the city high and dry.  Over 100 people died from heat exposure, traffic accidents and other issues completely unrelated to weather.  If these storms had hit people on the road like there would have been a catastrophic loss of life.

What was particularly ironic is that many of those people were heading up here to Nacogdoches and Longview. I was in Nac at the time; we got our asses kicked! The eye, still at 75mph when it got here, passed withing a mile of downtown, and took out thousands of acres of forestland and the other things up here that got in its way. In addition, all of the stores and filling stations got emptied out in record time and many people couldn't even get gas to get back home again!

No point in coming all the way up here just to be in time for the storm to really hit.

[Parsifal]

Sounds like the news reports I've been reading are not exaggerated. The quantities of rain being forecast are impossible for me to even imagine.

The worst weather experience I've had was 7 years ago. Two snow storms came through and dropped 30" of snow in the space of 48 hours. Then the power went out for 4 days. It stayed very cold for the following week. Temperature was down to 40 degrees (5C) in the house and 15 degrees (-10C) outside. Couldn't get the car out for 5 days. But we had enough food and could cook on the gas stove. Seems like an idyllic vacation, in comparison.

[Gurn Blanston]

Sounds like the news reports I've been reading are not exaggerated. The quantities of rain being forecast are impossible for me to even imagine.

The worst weather experience I've had was 7 years ago. Two snow storms came through and dropped 30" of snow in the space of 48 hours. Then the power went out for 4 days. It stayed very cold for the following week. Temperature was down to 40 degrees (5C) in the house and 15 degrees (-10C) outside. Couldn't get the car out for 5 days. But we had enough food and could cook on the gas stove. Seems like an idyllic vacation, in comparison.

I've been in those in Vermont (I grew up there). We didn't lose electricity usually, which is what makes the difference, but the rest of it was pretty regular. I have only peripherally dealt with flooding, and that was bad enough. I've been around a little bit, and I agree, the whole concept of 50" of rain simply boggles the mind. The only possible exaggeration I can see with this coverage is the idea that it is equally bad everywhere. There are many "islands in the stream", but even for them, there is not really a way out right now.

[Turner]

But thankfully we have morally superior people on the Internet to remind us of these things

The source was a Red Cross official.

Wasn't my intention to be morally superior, but the international media focus on the US regarding most issues isn't a balanced policy, and quite tiring to some.

[bwv 1080]

Sounds like the news reports I've been reading are not exaggerated. The quantities of rain being forecast are impossible for me to even imagine.

The worst weather experience I've had was 7 years ago. Two snow storms came through and dropped 30" of snow in the space of 48 hours. Then the power went out for 4 days. It stayed very cold for the following week. Temperature was down to 40 degrees (5C) in the house and 15 degrees (-10C) outside. Couldn't get the car out for 5 days. But we had enough food and could cook on the gas stove. Seems like an idyllic vacation, in comparison.

1 inch of rain = about 13 inches of snow, but at least here you don't have to worry about exposure

[bwv 1080]

Looks like we are now at about 10:00 on the hurricane, rain is coming from the East rather than the South and slowing as the dirty right side slowly moves past.  Now the issue is the rivers and reservoirs

[Parsifal]

I've been in those in Vermont (I grew up there). We didn't lose electricity usually, which is what makes the difference, but the rest of it was pretty regular. I have only peripherally dealt with flooding, and that was bad enough. I've been around a little bit, and I agree, the whole concept of 50" of rain simply boggles the mind. The only possible exaggeration I can see with this coverage is the idea that it is equally bad everywhere. There are many "islands in the stream", but even for them, there is not really a way out right now.

Our storm was in a region not accustomed to heavy snowfall (DC) and even got a nickname (Snowmaggon). It was very egalitarian, everyone was socked in. Very different from Houston where those on high ground will be relatively fortunate and will only have to wait for the water to drain away. Others will have overwhelming damage to their homes and loss of property.

1 inch of rain = about 13 inches of snow, but at least here you don't have to worry about exposure

...and you don't have to shovel it. For a month there were dump trucks with license plates three states away rumbling past our house, hauling snow to the outskirts of town.

[Gurn Blanston]

Our storm was in a region not accustomed to heavy snowfall (DC) and even got a nickname (Snowmaggon). It was very egalitarian, everyone was socked in. Very different from Houston where those on high ground will be relatively fortunate and will only have to wait for the water to drain away. Others will have overwhelming damage to their homes and loss of property.

...and you don't have to shovel it. For a month there were dump trucks with license plates three states away rumbling past our house, hauling snow to the outskirts of town.

Ah, I remember that; Snow-mageddon or sommat such. You're right, it all depends where you grew up on how much of an ordeal it is. And when, for that matter. It has been several years since Vermont had that sort of weather, although when I was in my early teens, I recall a stretch of 180 hours below zero F which actually made the papers. I got a rude reminder of that last February when I went up for my father's funeral and we got 16" of snow overnight. Just like old times. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Looks like we are now at about 10:00 on the hurricane, rain is coming from the East rather than the South and slowing as the dirty right side slowly moves past.  Now the issue is the rivers and reservoirs

That can only be a good thing, although not so much for Louisiana, I reckon. It was originally predicted to pass over us on the way out, but now it looks to be more easterly. Still raining here though...

[bwv 1080]

The area under Harvey got 3.6 times as much water dumped on it over the last 120 hours than flowed into the Gulf from the Mississippi River


https://spacecityweather.com/harvey-almost-certainly-the-biggest-us-flood-storm-of-all-time/

[Brian]

By the way, I in fact did evacuate Houston. My friends and I were visiting on vacation, and we left not out of necessity, but just because we wanted to be careful that we got back to work Monday (today). When we made the decision to leave, not many people in Houston believed it would get this bad - the hotel desk clerks were joking with me that other guests had simply ordered a couple bags of groceries so they could stay the weekend. They were a little surprised when we asked to check out early. Traffic leaving the city Friday around 10:30 a.m. was very light.

We did evacuate a friend of ours who packed and rode back in my car. He's staying in Dallas for at least a week, looks like.

[Parsifal]

I'm not sure ending a vacation early counts as "evacuation."

[Brian]

I'm not sure ending a vacation early counts as "evacuation."

well...fair enough