Tracking high water in the Bayou City

During the next heavy rain, you can monitor the potential for flooding in our local bayous, as well as the local rivers.

The National Weather Service along with the National Ocean Service is now tracking the water level in Buffalo Bayou, Cypress Creek, the West Fork of the San Jacinto River. This is in addition to the monitoring sites along White Oak Bayou, Greens Bayou, and the Trinity, San Bernard and Brazos Rivers.

The interactive map shows the current flood status of our local waterways and provides a link to very detailed information about the height and flow of the water at each location. And the data is updated every 15 minutes!

Weather research at NOAA and NCAR

I've been in Denver three days and finally saw the mountains on Friday. (I can only see a peek of a peak from my hotel room.) A group of us from the American Meteorological Society conference toured two weather research facilities nestled in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies in Boulder, Colorado.

Meteorologists and scientists are currently studying many aspects of weather and climate in the research labs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Many projects focus on climate change, of course. There is also a lot of work being done on weather forecasting models, severe and tropical weather and even space weather. There's some cool things being researched here...and the view is beautiful!

This has been a very full week of learning. Presentations at the conference today explored various topics TV meteorologists may have to explain to their viewers. The AMS refers to this as being the "Station Scientist."

The conference ends Sunday afternoon. That's good, because my notepad is almost full!

Radar class for TV meteorologists

Here's something that will make your head spin: the mathematic equation that explains how MegaDoppler 13 HD sees a single raindrop as it falls through the atmosphere.

This, among other things, was covered during an all-day radar class at the American Meteorological Society conference in Denver on Wednesday. Only about 60 TV meteorologists enrolled in the class for which we receive professional development credit. I was the only meteorologist from the Houston area who took the class.

The class also covered the modernization of the National Weather Service NEXRAD which will take place over the next five years. There are currently no plans to make that data available to the public or TV stations. So it will be even more important that local TV stations have their own live radar. With MegaDoppler 13 HD we're ahead of the game... and leading the way.

American Meteorological Society conference

I'm off to Denver to attend the American Meteorological Society Broadcast Meteorology Conference.

The five-day conference is packed with presentations and workshops focusing on severe and tropical weather forecasting, global warming and other topics pertinent to TV meteorologists. One session will address ways to communicate uncertainty in the forecast.

A day-long class on Wednesday will explore advanced radar systems and applications. On Friday, we're going to tour the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

The AMS requires broadcast meteorologists who've been certified to accumulate continuing education hours to maintain their accreditation. It's one way of staying on top of the science.

Funnel cloud over Pearland

The funnel cloud seen dangling over Pearland on Saturday got a lot of people's attention! Many of you sent us photos of the little vortex. The photo to the right was taken by Eyewitness News viewer Carlos Rosas.

The National Weather Service tells me the funnel cloud did not touch down, according to reports from the Pearland police department.

Margaret Plummer had a different view. She wrote:

"My family was outside the Bass Pro Shop when the funnel cloud first appeared at Highways 288 and 8.  We watched it touch down in a line of trees just north of 8 and saw the debris rise into the air in a swirling pattern.  We immediately drove south on 288, the same direction as the cloud.  The wind was swirling and we saw the roping funnel cloud, but cannot confirm it touched down again."

Swirling debris would indicate the rotation did reach the ground.

Here are some other photos sent in by Eyewitness News viewers:

Linda Menchaca shot this picture at 6 PM on Roy Road in Brookside Village.

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The storm might have produced more than one funnel cloud. Katherine and Danny Medrano tell me before the picture to the right was taken, "another funnel had touched down briefly next to this one."

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Cecile Ruffino said he saw the funnel cloud near Shadow Creek Ranch (photo to the left.)

Despite the numerous sightings of the funnel cloud, there does not appear to be any damage caused by this specific storm.

However, there was some damage reported in the South Glen subdivision on Saturday. Several mobile homes were damaged and some large tree limbs were down. The National Weather Service says this damage was caused by straight line thunderstorm winds, not a tornado.

Hurricane simulator built to tear homes apart

Students at the University of Florida are busy building homes and then blowing them apart using the world's largest hurricane simulator.

The large wind pipes look like something you'd see on the space shuttle. And when they fire up the engines, it sounds like a giant tractor. This giant wind machine can create 120 mph hurricane-like winds.

At the same time high powered hoses spray water at different rates to simulate the effects of wind blown rainfall.

The students use this hurricane simulator to study the effects of the weather on buildings. Ultimately this ongoing research will help make homes stronger and safer.

This reminds me of the research they do at Texas Tech University where students research the effects of tornadoes on homes.

Houston: Hottest city in the area?

For the past several days the official high temperature in Houston has been in the upper 90s. The high on Friday was 99°. But is that the real temperature?

Here's how the temperature at Bush IAH compares with some of the other local reporting stations:

• Bush IAH: 99°
• Hobby Airport: 96°
• Pearland: 95°
• Sugar Land: 97°
• Tomball: 95°
• Pasadena: 95°

It seems like the thermometer at Bush IAH is about 2-3° too warm. And that's the way it's been all week.

The official high at Bush IAH last Sunday was 99° and that tied a record that was set back in 1902!  And again it was 2-3° warmer than every other temperature in this area.

Is it the urban heat island effect?  Then why isn't Hobby Airport warmer?

We wrote to the National Weather Service and asked them to investigate the weather instruments at the big airport. A technician checked the gauges on Thursday and reported that, "...there doesn't appear to be any reason why the IAH temperature would not be accurate."

But something is not right. The instruments might be working correctly, but are they correctly measuring the weather....or the effects of hot jet engines idling nearby, parked on black asphalt?

I noticed last year that when the wind is light during the summer, the temperature at Bush IAH is hotter than nearby areas. I complained then, too.

What difference does it make?

Arguments for and against global warming are often based on temperature readings. If these measurements are not accurately reflecting the real weather, then the data is flawed.

It has been documented that many of the weather reporting sites installed and maintained by the National Weather Service are not sited correctly and therefore may not be accurately measuring the weather. Check out some of the reports at www.surfacestations.org

Here's the other challenge: how do we forecast the temperature for Houston when the official reading may not be accurate?  We don't.  At ABC13 we forecast the average temperature expected within the city of Houston. We expect the temperature to be about 94-95° in Houston on Saturday and Sunday.  (It will probably be closer to 98° at Bush IAH.)

Finally! Rain clouds over Houston!

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We got a double treat Tuesday evening! First, heavy rain fell in much of the city. A few neighborhoods were soaked with over an inch of much needed rain. Then, the clear sky behind the storm provided a beautiful view of the towering cumulonimbus clouds. The panoramic photo above was captured by Eyewitness Storm Spotter Joel Pirtle in Katy. The photo to the left was taken by Linda Unger in Northwest Houston.

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On the back side of the anvil cloud, mammatus clouds formed. These odd looking clouds develop in very unstable air and usually indicate strong vertical wind shear. Several viewers sent us pictures of the clouds. The picture to the right was captured by Tony Tarver in east Harris County.

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The photo to the left was shot by Bob Jones.

Here's one more of the sunset from Tom Chitwood in Baytown.

Keep you eye to the sky (and camera ready) on Wednesday. More thundershowers are possible. Hopefully, your yard will get wet this time!

A few HEAVY showers likely

There haven't been many showers on the radar lately. But where the rain has developed, a few people have gotten soaked.

Take a look at this snapshot from MegaDoppler13 HD from Monday afternoon. Heavy rain was falling along I-10 and the East Beltway. A yards were getting a good drink of water, but most of the area was dry.

Don and Pat sent me this email:

"You blew it again. Almost drowned this weekend.. you have been wrong about 80% of the time!!!"

Actually, the forecast has been very accurate lately. This is an easy pattern to predict: partly sunny with a slight chance of rain.  We simply adjust the "chance" up or down depending of the expected movement of the sea breeze, outflow boundaries and the strength of the cap.

This is the type of weather pattern we're in. Widespread rain is not in the forecast. But scattered showers are still possible. Since there's no cold front or warm front kicking off the rain, there's no pattern as to who gets wet and who doesn't.

In almost every single weathercast you'll hear me say, "We're not expecting to see too many showers on the radar. But where it does rain, the rain will be heavy."

Of that, I'm 100% certain.

New ABC 13 Weather Center is on the air!

Over the past couple of weeks we've been moving into a new weather center. You'll see it when you watch 13 Eyewitness News, along with new areas for news and sports. The company that built our new set said this is one of the biggest projects they've worked on.

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Here's a behind-the-scenes tour of the new weather center. I took these pictures with my camera-phone last Friday as engineers and technicians finished installing all the equipment.

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The basic rule of design and architecture is, "Form follows function." And our new weather center functions very well!  Up front, we have a severe weather desk where we can control MegaDoppler 13 HD. Engineers also installed computers in the top of the desk so we can check changing weather conditions during our live broadcasts.

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In our initial design meetings we talked about the need to have multiple workstations and on-air positions. During Hurricane Rita, we were literally tripping over each other. The new weather center is about five times bigger than our old workspace. Now all of our meteorologists can comfortably work at the same time without interfering with each other.

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Some things haven't changed. We still use the tried-and-true chroma-key "green screen" to electronically display the maps behind us during 13 Eyewitness News. But the wall is bigger to accommodate the 16x9 HD weather maps.

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Of course, none of this matters if the forecast isn't accurate. In the new weather center, all the weather data is right in front of us so we can monitor developing storms. Multiple meteorologists can work side by side, analyzing different parts of a storm and collaborating on the forecast. And the various on-air positions are designed to get us on-the-air quickly when you need the information fast. We are committed to being Houston's Severe Weather Leader.