National Weather Service details just how close S.A. came to experiencing a 'disaster' from Harvey

A weather radar image from the Dark Sky weather app taken Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, shows just how close Hurricane Harvey came to striking San Antonio. A weather radar image from the Dark Sky weather app taken Saturday, Aug. 26, 2017, shows just how close Hurricane Harvey came to striking San Antonio. Photo: Dark Sky Photo: Dark Sky Image 1 of / 71 Caption Close National Weather Service details just how close S.A. came to experiencing a 'disaster' from Harvey 1 / 71 Back to Gallery

Panicked shoppers cleared grocery shelves of water, businesses closed and events were canceled in San Antonio as residents waited for Harvey to land on Texas' Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane.

In the end, the Alamo City emerged mostly unscathed. But it was a close call.

Ominous radar charts, which earlier in the week had San Antonio covered in red and orange, were updated to show the city directly on the edge of disaster. Nearby Seguin, New Braunfels and Austin received 11.79, 7, and 10 inches of rain, respectively.

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San Antonio, which was expected to receive a widespread 8-10 inches of rain, with more in some spots, ended up getting less than 2 inches, leaving a few low-water crossings closed and much of the city largely dry, said Mark Lenz, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

"We were fortunate that we did get some dryer air to move in," Lenz said. "The rainfall tried to move into that dry area and it basically evaporated. We may not have seen the extent of flooding from a heavier rainfall than we did because it wasn't quite as convective."

Had the center of the storm traveled 50-55 miles farther into town, "it very easily could have been a big disaster," Lenz said.

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Scattered rain brought 3-5 inches of rain to the Northeast Side of Bexar County, the most the area received all weekend. The faster heavy rain falls, the more likely flooding is and San Antonio saw just a 1/3 of an inch to 2/3 of an inch in an hour.

"The 10-inch rain was very close to San Antonio," Lenz said.

Houston was hit the hardest by the weather system, leaving much of the city flooded Monday morning. Lenz said the storm was able to grow and continue near Houston because of the moisture in the air.

"As long as Houston is on that Northeastern side, more moist air can come up from the Gulf of Mexico," he said, adding the city had thunder and lightning, and San Antonio did not.

Without the dry air, San Antonio's rainfall totals could have been doubled or tripled, he said.

"We were fortunate," Lenz said.

kbradshaw@express-news.net

Twitter: @kbrad5