North Texans
sloshed through two terrible commutes Tuesday – and face a third
and perhaps a fourth today – as storms wrapped around the remains
of Tropical Storm Hermine continue to dump rain over much of the state.
Rainfall exceeded 2 inches in many locations Tuesday – about what Dallas-Fort Worth can expect, on average, in an entire September – with chances for more heavy storms lingering today and much of the day Thursday.
Hermine came ashore near the Texas-Mexico border Monday and took a northerly swing that carried the center of the storm over San Antonio and just west of Austin. That track should take the heart of the storm well west of the Dallas area today.
"We see it heading toward Abilene and driving copious amounts of moisture along both sides of the Interstate 35 corridor," said Joe Harris, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. "It means rain, chances of tornadoes, and gusty winds into Thursday."
A tornado watch was in place across much of the Dallas area Tuesday afternoon and evening, with a warning put in place near Princeton, about 10 miles east of McKinney, after weather spotters saw a wall cloud lowering toward the ground and radar picked up signs of rotation in that storm. Another warning followed reports of a funnel cloud near Briaroaks, just south of Burleson.
But no tornadoes were confirmed, the weather service said.
Still, there were plenty of problems, and more so in South and Central Texas near the storm's center.
Gusts of 64 mph were reported at San Antonio International Airport, toppling trees up to 16 inches in diameter. Bands of heavy rain caused localized flooding, closing a portion of Interstate 35 in San Antonio. Even in North Texas, creeks filled quickly from the runoff, and the threat of flash flooding remains.
Jesse Moore, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said the Dallas-Fort Worth area could see 3 to 5 inches of total precipitation before the rain ends, probably sometime Thursday.
Tuesday's rain contributed to dozens of accidents on area roads, with traffic crawling along as heavy rain lashed the highways.
Today won't be much better.
"This type of weather is going to go on all night," Harris said Tuesday evening, "and will continue most of the day [today] and overnight again."
Rain remains in the forecast for Thursday, though the chance of precipitation is down to 30 percent, Harris said.
"I think the rain will be over with by late Thursday afternoon," he said, "and conditions will be better going into weekend."
Temperatures will be in the 70s this morning, climbing only into the 80s this afternoon. The returning sun could push temperatures into the 90s later this week and this weekend, with another chance of rain Saturday.
Hermine's heavy rain should cut into the current year-to-date deficit of 3.6 inches, forecasters said. The first rounds of rain Tuesday nudged the monthly accumulation at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to more than 2.42 inches, the average rainfall for September.
"The good thing is we need the rain," Harris said. "The bad thing is we get four weeks' worth in two or three days."
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