The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Deadly Complex of Storms Rolls through Houston…Was Climate Change Involved?
Dear Diary. In answer to the above question, which is a tough one, I would say at least partially. A cool system aloft was interacting with above average Gulf waters:
In turn, above average Gulf, Carribean, and eastern Pacific waters are aiding to prop up a big heat dome over Mexico, which extends eastward through the Gulf into Florida (as denoted by 588+ decameter heights on the chart below):
The extra energy from this heat fed into Houston’s storm complex from yesterday, probably exacerbating damage potential. More energy put into a storm complex leads to higher winds and heavier precipitation. I dread what will happen when hurricanes interact with this extra energy later this year.
That stated, strong severe storms have been ravaging North America well before the first European settlers arrived. Just exactly how much the Houston storm complex was influenced by climate change is a question that probably will never be answered given the state of attribution science. The complex did kill four people, and hundreds of thousands remain without power as of this writing.
For more details, here is a Washington Post article:
4 killed after powerful Houston storms leave nearly 700,000 without power – The Washington Post
4 dead as destructive thunderstorm blasts Houston
Meteorologists compared the wind damage to a hurricane.
By Kelsey Ables, Jason Samenow and Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Updated May 17, 2024 at 11:29 a.m. EDT| Published May 16, 2024 at 10:18 p.m. EDT
Deadly thunderstorms blew out skyscraper windows, downed trees and cut power to hundreds of thousands of customers in Houston on May 16. (Video: Julie Yoon/The Washington Post)
At least four people were killed when a violent thunderstorm complex ripped through downtown Houston and the surrounding area Thursday evening, according to the Houston mayor’s office.
Early indications suggest that fallen trees caused two of the fatalities and another was related to a crane that blew over, Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña told reporters.
The storm, which prompted warnings of further severe thunderstorms and tornadoes,cut power to more than 870,000 customers in the surrounding county Thursday evening. Nearly 700,000 customers in Harris County were still without power as of 8:45 a.m. Eastern time Friday.
Thursday’s winds were so fierce that they blew out skyscraper windows and tore off part of the roof of the Hyatt Regency hotel downtown, where rain and debris were pouring into the lobby, according to initial reports on social media. Glass from blown-out windows littered city streets.
“Downtown is a mess. It’s dangerous,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said at a news conference late Thursday, urging people to stay home.
A man crosses the street as a traffic light hangs from a wire in the aftermath of a severe thunderstorm in Houston on Friday. (David J. Phillip/AP)
Broken windows following the storm in Houston on Friday. (Jon Shapley/AP)
Whitmire said the storm brought 100 mph winds and left hazardous damage in its track across the city. Firefighters pulled live wires off U.S. Route 290, trees are blocking roadways, and most of the traffic lights in the city are not working, he said.
It was not immediately clear whether the damage in Houston was from a twister or straight-line winds.
Local schools will be closed Friday “due to widespread damage” across the city, the Houston Independent School District said on social media. Whitmire said he encouraged businesses to let employees work from home.
It could take 24 to 48 hours for power to return in some places, Whitmire said.
Brian Murray, Harris County’s deputy emergency management coordinator, said late Thursday that power was being restored and that there were many reports of “downed power lines in neighborhoods and across freeways.”
Transmission power lines are down in Cypress, Texas, on Thursday evening. (Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle/AP)
Ada Duarte takes orders using only the light of her phone after losing power at Anita’s Honduras Restaurant in Houston on Friday. (Brett Coomer/AP)
Jason Miles, a reporter for Houston television affiliate KHOU, wrote that the skyscraper damage reminded him of Hurricane Alicia, which slammed the city in 1983. Whitmire said the wind speeds were the “equivalent of Hurricane Ike,” which barreled through the region in 2008.
“The best way I can describe what happened tonight in Houston was that essentially a quick moving equivalent to a category 1 or low-end 2 storm just trucked across a large portion of a major metro area,” Matt Lanza, chief meteorologist for SpaceCityWeather.com, wrote on X.
The same storm system also prompted numerous severe thunderstorm, tornado and flash flood warnings north and east of Houston. Storms extended into southern Louisiana, where there were reports of damage including downed trees and power lines from Lafayette to New Orleans, where winds gusted over 80 mph. A confirmed tornado struck near Convent, La., about 45 miles west of New Orleans, which toppled trees and power lines.
More than 130,000 customers were without power in Louisiana on Friday morning, according to online tracker PowerOutage.
As the violent storm approached Houston, the National Weather Service issued a dire severe-thunderstorm warning that predicted “destructive winds” of 80 mph. Doppler radar estimated that winds just above the ground may have surpassed 100 mph.
“Winds tend to be stronger with height — at the highest floors of the skyscrapers in #Houston’s business districts, the wind gusts exceeded 100 mph and may have been as high as 120 mph,” Craig Ceecee, a meteorologist who specializes in severe storms, wrote on X.
West of Houston, images emerged of power transmitters toppled and on their sides.
Forecasters had warned for days that dangerous storms would affect Texas and Louisiana on Thursday, but the primary concern was flooding. The Weather Service issued a rare “high risk” alert for excessive rainfall for parts of the area.
While the agency received dozens of reports of flooding between Dallas and New Orleans, the intense thunderstorms that raked the Houston area will probably end up as the most damaging and costly aspect of the storm.
The Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center received more than 100 reports of damaging winds, including a number of gusts over 80 mph, throughout Texas and southern Louisiana on Thursday.
Workers pause to look at a building with broken glass windows after the storm on Thursday. (David J. Phillip/AP)
A car crushed by fallen bricks from a building wall in Houston on Thursday. (David J. Phillip/AP)
The severe storms formed along a front that stalled on the northern Gulf Coast. Warm, humid air surging north out of the Gulf of Mexico collided with cooler, drier air north of the front, inciting the storm formation. This steamy air also spread over South Florida, setting numerous records.
A few additional intense storms are probable Friday across parts of the Gulf Coast and Mississippi Delta along the same front that brought Thursday’s severe weather.
A Level 2 out of 5 risk of severe thunderstorms has been drawn by the Storm Prediction Center for southeast Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge; southern Mississippi including Gulfport; southern Alabama, including Mobile; southwest Georgia; and the Florida Panhandle.
The main concern will be for strong to locally damaging gusts of 50-60 mph and hail to quarter size, though an isolated tornado can’t be ruled out. Friday’s setup is a bit more removed from high-altitude jet stream energy, meaning there won’t be as much support for significant straight-line winds like those that slammed Houston on Thursday.
Waves of heavy rain will also accompany storms riding along the slow-moving front. That’s why a flood watch remains in effect for southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.
Additional strong to severe storms are possible across the Southeast on Saturday before the front finally shifts into the Atlantic.
Matthew Cappucci and Helier Cheung contributed to this report.
By Kelsey Ables Kelsey Ables is a reporter at The Washington Post’s Seoul hub, where she covers breaking news in the United States and across the world. She was previously on the Features desk, where she wrote about art, architecture and pop culture. Twitter
By Jason Samenow Jason Samenow is The Washington Post’s weather editor and Capital Weather Gang’s chief meteorologist. He earned a master’s degree in atmospheric science and spent 10 years as a climate change science analyst for the U.S. government. He holds the Digital Seal of Approval from the National Weather Association. Twitter
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Molly Hennessy-Fiske joined The Post in 2022 as a national reporter based in Texas covering breaking news and red states. Twitter
More:
Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is some more April 2024 climatology (Prior reports are listed on older daily diary blogs for each calendar day.):
Here is More Climate News from Friday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)