Finally a weather forecast to help a wet city dry out

Harvey is expected to make landfall again in Louisiana on Wednesday. Harvey is expected to make landfall again in Louisiana on Wednesday. Photo: National Weather Service Photo: National Weather Service Image 1 of / 120 Caption Close Finally a weather forecast to help a wet city dry out 1 / 120 Back to Gallery

7:38 a.m. Wednesday

Houstonians can expect drier weather on Wednesday, after Harvey moved out of southeast Texas and into Louisiana early in the morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Flooded roadways are draining. Water levels on many bayous and creeks are expected to drop.

There is a 30 percent chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms across Harris County, said NWS meteorologist Kent Prochazka.

Those showers and thunderstorms are more likely to hit in the afternoon, Prochazka added.

Because of existing high water on creek, river and roads, a flash flood warning is in effect until 10:15 a.m. for Harris, Galveston, southern Montgomery, Fort Bend, southern San Jacinto, Chambers, Brazoria, southeastern Waller, Liberty and southern Polk counties.

5 a.m. Wednesday

Harvey, now a tropical storm, made landfall again after a brief period back in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Weather Service.

It hit just beyond the Texas-Louisiana border in the town of Cameron, about 50 miles east of Beaumont.

The weather service, not normally known for exuberant proclamations, used several exclamation points in tweeting that the Houston area's "tropical storm warning, storm surge watch, and flash flood watch have all been canceled. Improving weather conditions to come!"

2 a.m. Wednesday

The outlook remains positive. The National Weather service forecast calls for a cloudy Wednesday leading to a mostly sunny Thursday and Friday.

The flood warning for the Houston area lasts until at least 9 p.m. Thursday.

11 p.m. Tuesday

The Houston area has seen the last of Harvey, the National Weather Service reports. The storm has moved to the east. The areas seeing heavy rainfall overnight are Beaumont and farther east.

Wednesday may see light rain in the Houston area. Thursday looks dry and warmer, returning to a typical high temperature of 92 degrees. Friday will be hot and humid - an unusually welcome combination for an area ready for some sun.

7 p.m. Tuesday

Tropical Storm Harvey continues to push Tuesday evening out of the metro region of Houston. At 7 p.m., the storm was about 85 miles south of Port Arthur and was slowly moving off to the east.

Forecasters predict between six to 12 inches of rain will fall to the north and east of Houston as a result of the storm. Rain is expected to fall from far east Texas into southwestern Louisiana. Harvey is likely to spread north by mid to late week, heading into portions of Arkansas and Tennessee Valley.

5 p.m. Tuesday

The danger has mostly passed for the metro Houston area, but the upper Texas coast and southwestern Louisiana still face "ongoing catastrophic and life-threatening flooding" of 6 to 12 inches, according to the National Hurricane Center.

The area from Galveston Bay to Lake Charles faces and storm surge watch and the coast up to Morgan City, Louisiana are faced with a storm surge warning.

The flood threat will continue to move east as Harvey pushes farther down the Gulf Coast into Mississippi and Alabama and threatens them with 5 to 10 inches of additional rain.

4 p.m. Tuesday

Though Harris County has seen the worst of Harvey's downpours, the storm is now poised to dump over ten inches of water on southeastern Texas and southwestern Louisiana as it makes landfall late Tuesday.

A flash flood warning for Winnie, the Bolivar Peninsula and Anahuac remain in effect until 6:30 p.m.

According to the National Weather Service, 6 million Texans in Harvey's path were impacted by 30 inches or more of water.

Harvey dropped two feet of rain over an area about the size of West Virginia over 5 days, according to Space City Weather, the most ever by a storm over that period.

The National Weather Service announced that the previous rainfall record was broken as 51.88 inches of water were reported at Cedar Bayou and FM-1942 at 3:40 p.m.

2:30 p.m. Tuesday

Rain totals forecasts show less than seven inches are expected by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Several parts of Houston have seen less than one inch of new rain, but the real damage has been in Galveston and the surrounding areas. Space City Weather reported that over seven inches have fallen on the island since Tuesday.

The areas expected to be hit hardest next are Beaumont and Port Arthur, with Harvey making landfall tonight or early tomorrow in or around Cameron Parish, Louisiana.

The sun should be visible through the clouds Wednesday afternoon, according to Space City Weather.

1:30 p.m. Tuesday

Tropical Storm Harvey is now moving away from the Houston area faster.

The National Hurricane Center reported Harvey's speed at 8 miles per hour at 1 p.m. The storm will continue moving north-northeast and is expected to make landfall in Louisiana on Wednesday.

The National Weather Service has extended a flash flood warning for Willow Creek in Tomball until 7 a.m. Wednesday and says minor flooding is already occurring and advises that the river will continue rising to nearly 130.8 feet by Friday morning, making additional flooding a possibility.

11:30 a.m. Tuesday

Houston might be getting some relief from the rain soon, according to the National Weather Service.

Rains will continue for most of the metro area throughout the day, but as Tropical Storm Harvey slowly moves away from the greater Houston area, it will likely dump 3 to 8 more inches on the eastern half of the region — Galveston and Texas City — and 1 to 3 inches on the western half.

A flash flood warning was issued for Galveston, the Bolivar Peninsula and Jamaica Beach until 3 p.m. The storm is 114 miles from Houston and is moving north-northeast at 5 miles per hour.

The metro area is about 24 hours from the tail end of the storm, according to Eric Berger at Space City Weather.

9 a.m. Tuesday

Rainfall totals show Tropical Storm Harvey is winding down as the storm moves toward the Texas-Louisiana border, but Houstonians still aren't in the clear, according to the National Weather Service.

Through Thursday morning, less than 1.5-inches of rain is expected to hit Fort Bend, Brazoria, Austin, Waller, eastern Montgomery and eastern Harris counties.

Up to 3 inches could fall on eastern Harris, eastern Galveston and eastern Montgomery counties by Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.

Harder hit in the coming days will be counties further east, including those along the Texas-Louisiana border. Jefferson, Chambers, Orange, Hardin could be inundated with up to 15 more inches by Thursday morning.

7 a.m. Tuesday

Houston residents should see some relief from torrential downpours and flooding later Tuesday, as Tropical Storm Harvey moves northeast into Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.

At 7 a.m., Tropical Storm Harvey was hugging the coast, about 77 miles from Galveston. Winds were at a maximum of 45 mph. The storm was moving northeast at 3 mph. It is expected to reach the Texas-Louisiana border by 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

5 a.m. Tuesday

The flash flood watch dropped for western portions of the area and the threat of flooding is gradually shifting east. However, catastrophic flooding is ongoing across southeast areas, according to the National Weather Service. A half inch to one inch of rain is falling per hour.

Moderate to occasionally heavy rain will continue to fall Tuesday across the eastern third of the area. Harvey is expected to eventually accelerate northeast on Wednesday and Thursday.

High rainfall totals have fallen across the Houston area since midnight Saturday. Around 28 inches of rain fell at Bush Intercontinental Airport and additionally 33 inches at Houston Hobby Airport. The greatest heavy rainfall threat is for eastern Harris County, Galveston, Chambers and Liberty counties.

Tropical Storm Harvey is currently 100 miles east of Port O' Connor.

4 a.m. Tuesday

Harvey is expected to produce additional rainfall of 7 to 13 inches through Friday over parts of the upper Texas coast into southwestern Louisiana, according the National Weather Service.

At 4 a.m., Tropical Storm Harvey was about 100 miles east-southeast of Port O'Connor and moving east at 3 miles per hour. The tropical storm is supposed to keep moving east through Tuesday morning, but a turn toward the northeast and a continued slow pace is expected as the day goes on and into the evening.

Forecasters predict Harvey will move inland over the northwestern Gulf Coast on Wednesday. Wind speeds remained near 45 mph with higher gusts.

Houston rainfall between June 1 and Aug. 28 is now a little over 50 inches, the National Weather Service reported The average annual rainfall is 49.77 inches. August is apparently the wettest month on record for Houston.

1 a.m. Tuesday

Tropical Storm Harvey was producing 1 to 2 inches of rain per hour Tuesday morning, which would ultimately worsen the city's flooding problem, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters said Harvey is moving at a slow speed to the northeast, causing the catastrophic flooding to possibly continue over the next couple of days. Harvey could produce an additional 10 to 20 inches through Thursday over parts of the upper Texas coast into southwestern Louisiana. Isolated storm totals could reach 50 inches over the upper Texas coast.

At 1 a.m., Harvey was about 90 miles east of Port O'Connor and moving east-southeast at 5 miles per hour.



10 p.m. Monday

Catastrophic flooding will continue over the next couple days for Southeast Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.

Additional heavy rainfall overnight is expected to worsen the flood situation in Southeast Texas. Forecasters advised drivers to to not travel in affected areas and not drive on flooded roadways.

Harvey will cause an additional 10 to 20 inches of rainfall through Thursday over parts of the upper Texas coast into southwestern Louisiana.

At 10 p.m., Harvey was about 70 miles east of Port O'Connor and moving east-southeast at 3 miles per hour. The storm is expected to turn northeast Tuesday and continue slowly moving.

Forecasters predict the center of Harvey will be just offshore of the middle and upper Texas coasts through Tuesday night and then move inland over the northwestern Gulf coast on Wednesday.

The storm's wind speeds were currently blowing at 45 miles per hour.

5 p.m. Monday

Harvey's center appears to have just gone offshore, National Weather Service meteorologist Wendy Wong reports.

"But there's still quite a bit of rain over the Houston area," Wong said. "We're estimating maybe 2 to 4 inches of rain the next few hours, and maybe higher local amounts."

Areas south of Houston were hit hardest in the last few hours, Wong said, such as Pearland and Friendswood.

On Monday evening the heaviest rain likely will shift to Sugar Land and Fort Bend County, Wong added.

The weather service also predicted the region would see plenty more rain through Thursday, with some areas northeast of Houston getting as much as 15 to 20 inches more.

National Weather Service forecast of additional rainfall Monday...

1:30 p.m. Monday

Weather forecasters say a band of moderate rainfall has formed north of Tropical Storm Harvey's circulation area, likely bringing 2 inches an hour of rain to an area that extends from Interstate 10 in Houston southwest to Dickinson.

"This can lead to... additional 4 to 8 inches this afternoon in those areas," Dan Reilly, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said at around 1:15 p.m.. "The rainfall forecast for tonight will also likely be revised higher compared to those in the morning update."

"We'll expect this heavy rain to be continuing off and on through Wednesday with the possibility of additional total rainfall of 15 to 20 inches by Thursday," Reilly said.

The weather service had earlier said another 4 inches of rain was possible in the city on Monday night, followed by 4 more inches of rain on Tuesday.

Harvey unleashed the worst flooding in Houston history, dumping as much as 29 inches of rain in some areas over two days, sending bayous over their banks and leaving neighborhoods deep in floodwaters.

A list of rainfall accumulations can be found at: www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/nfdscc1.html

The center of the storm itself is moving slowly to the southeast near the Texas coast, continuing to bring "life-threatening" flooding to the region. It is about 25 miles east-northeast of Port O'Connor.

The hurricane center urged people not to attempt to travel to affected areas if you are in a safe place and not to drive into flooded roadways. A tropical storm warning has been issued for the area from High Island to Cameron, La.

This post will be updated throughout the day.