Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Edouard Doing More Good than Bad


Tropical storm Edouard made landfall over southeastern Texas Monday morning. It came close to Category 1 levels, but never actually became a hurricane. Once it moved inland and off of the Gulf of Mexico it weakened quickly. Without a major moisture source, tropical storms typically fall apart rapidly. Within six hours of being over land, Edouard had been downgraded to a tropical depression. There were a few reports of rainfall around Houston between 4-6", but most locations received amounts less than that. Those are tolerable amounts of liquid, and that rainfall was actually sorely needed. Central Texas has been in an extreme drought recently. The remnants of Edouard are still spinning around central Texas, where some spots could pick up another inch of liquid today.

One thing to take note of is the effect Hurricane Dolly had on extreme southern Texas. Dolly dumped massive amounts of rain on Brownsville, Texas and the surrounding area, which is why they are not experiencing any drought effects at the present time. As you and I both know, we have had plenty of rain around here and the drier than normal outlook for the Stateline over the next week is welcome news. -ADAM

7 comments:

allie said...

I have a question for Eric, Adam, or Justin. This is off the subject of what is being blogged about in here but i have become very interested by listening to you guys and watching you guys that i am really thinking i want to get into meteorology. I have always found it interesting but i think you guys just make the ones out there that have thought about it want to do it. The learning experience you give to all of us at the busiest times of storms and stuff and still doing your job.
Anyways i know the only colleges to go in this area close to home is NIU. I was wondering if you can do your prerecs at a college of your choice here before moving onto NIU or if you would recommend me just going right to NIU and doing it?
anyways i just wanted to ask that question.
And thanks for all the learning experiences you give us on a daily basis!!!!

Justin Gehrts said...

NIU is definitely the closest, plus they can claim the oh-so-famous alum of Eric Sorensen. :P You could also consider a couple other options, too. UW-Madison has a well-known atmospheric sciences program, and I have to plug my and Adam's alma mater, Iowa State.

Eric tells me that most coursework at Rock Valley will transfer to NIU. If there's any doubt on whether something will transfer, it's fairly easy to track that info down, either via the school's website or an easy phone call.

Talking to your guidance counselor is always a good idea, as well. And be sure to visit the colleges you're interested in - tour the campus and meet with your potentially future teachers.

Justin said...

Justin - Do you know anything about the programs at Oklahoma and Valpo? Those are the top 2 colleges that I am looking at. Im about to send in my admission for Valpo, and I'll probably send one in to OU soon. Thanks

Justin Gehrts said...

I don't know much about Valpo's program other than that they have a fairly decent number of students in their program. They have always had a sizable group make it out to the Iowa National Weather Association conference every year.

OU has a very strong program. The facilities are state of the art, too. One of my friends just started grad school at OU, incidentally.

Each meteorology program that a particular school offers has various pros and cons based on what you'd like to do as a career. Some have a focus on forecasting, while others are tailored to research and grad school preparation.

allie said...

sounds good i will have to check that out. I've always had that weather interest there and i'm always pointing stuff out to my husband as we are driving along in severe weather when we travel lol..I'm looking to really stay in this area just because i am married and have 3 children and i'm not looking to up and move anywhere far away. I would love to be out in the tornado land to go to school but that was something i shouldof done before i had children lol..
Again thanks and i always have to say that the learning experience you guys give on here as helped me out a great deal!
You guys rock!

Anonymous said...

off topic again, just curious what is causing the humid air still at this hour? 65 degree dewpoint at 940. i thought the air was to be much drier by now. :) i want my free a/c back! aha

Justin Gehrts said...

Jim - that line of thunderstorms that stayed just west of Rockford can be blamed. Even though it didn't rain at RFD, there was precipitation that was falling but not reaching the ground (known as virga). Some of the moisture aloft made it to the ground in the form of slightly higher dewpoints, essentially.