Will a Gulf Storm System Bring Downpours to East Texas This Week?
Hot and dry summers in East Texas are not out of the ordinary. When we get into these weather patterns that involve extreme heat waves and extended droughts, we start looking towards the Gulf of Mexico for possible relief.
Hurricane season is here and a few downpours from a tropical system would definitely be welcome. Let's be clear, we don't want anything destructive. No hurricanes, not even a tropical storm, just a slow-moving tropical wave or depression would be welcome right now. A few inches of rain over a two to three-day span would be just what the doctor ordered.
There is some possible hope this week.
The National Hurricane Center is currently focusing on two areas of concern. One of those has a strong possibility of developing over the next five days, but that system is still over a week away from any threat to the Gulf of Mexico.
The other area of showers and storms is widespread from off the coast of Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Forecasters have given this disorganized band of showers a low probability to form into a tropical system. However, it is still expected to dump quite a bit of rain wherever it ends up going.
So...where is it going?
Slowly westward. As you can see in the forecast map, the system is expected to crawl towards the west over the next several days.
At the very least, that will give East Texas a chance of showers every day of this upcoming week. As you would expect, cities along the coast such as Galveston, Beaumont, and Lake Charles will have the best opportunities for the most downpours.
As of right now, the National Weather Service has east Texas with a 50% chance of showers on Monday (mainly due to a rare summer cool front), then the rain chances pick up again towards the end of the week as the tropical system anchors itself closer to the Texas coastline.
Any rain would be welcome as Angelina, Trinity, Tyler, Houston, Cherokee, and Polk Counties are under burn bans. There is a high chance that other Deep East Texas counties will be joining that list within the next several days.