2021 Rain Thread

[South Austin 52518]

It's August 2 in the middle of the day and 76 degrees. 

[mchookem 16336]

oh well..any chance this rain rolls out of here in the next couple of hours?

got a houseful of (step)kids/grandkids that were counting on a lake trip...even got my dad to hang around an extra day with his boat to give the yankee younguns a thrill. rain mucking up the plan, man! 😕

[utee94 15830]

9 minutes ago, mchookem said:

oh well..any chance this rain rolls out of here in the next couple of hours?

got a houseful of (step)kids/grandkids that were counting on a lake trip...even got my dad to hang around an extra day with his boat to give the yankee younguns a thrill. rain mucking up the plan, man! 😕

There is absolutely no acceptable time to complain about rain in Central Texas.  None.

Here in NW Travis, we completely missed out on yesterday.  Not a single drop.  But this morning we've had some steady rain, and I could take about another 4 or 5 days of it.

[mchookem 16336]

[South Austin 52518]

I was hoping this week would finally get up to the 100s so I could enjoy my trip to Seattle that much more.

[utee94 15830]

22 minutes ago, mchookem said:

Nope.  Can't even joke about it.  It's rain, in summer, in Central Texas.  There is no humor allowed on this subject.

 

 

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Nope.  Can't even joke about it.  It's rain, in summer, in Central Texas.  There is no humor allowed on this subject.

 

 

However, there is a little known codicil in the bylaws that permits such by concrete contractors such as myself when anticipating a large concrete placement that is cancelled by rain.

[InkaUtexas 25955]

59 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

However, there is a little known codicil in the bylaws that permits such by concrete contractors such as myself when anticipating a large concrete placement that is cancelled by rain.

So you are the resident mob boss? Good to know. 

[Guest Lobo]

3 hours ago, Jiggy-Z said:

However, there is a little known codicil in the bylaws that permits such by concrete contractors such as myself when anticipating a large concrete placement that is cancelled by rain.

I thought we made it clear it was a 'no-show' job.  You got you lollipop.  What more do you want? 

I really thought it was supposed to pour today.  What a nice day overall though.  50 days to the Autumnal Equinox and then I can overhaul my sprinkler system.  

[gurt 749]

It’s currently pouring at my house in north Austin. And lots of thunder and lightning.

[boknowstecmo 216]

5 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I thought we made it clear it was a 'no-show' job.  You got you lollipop.  What more do you want? 

I really thought it was supposed to pour today.  What a nice day overall though.  50 days to the Autumnal Equinox and then I can overhaul my sprinkler system.  

I mean, it's definitely about to pour in Austin.

[AUS-97HORN 11808]

decent pour in the '57

[UnivTex34 1763]

taken at 5:30 from South Austin

[hornian 5219]

7 hours ago, Orange&White said:

We have still only had one day of 100 degrees and it was only at Mabry and it was only for about 2 hours (June 14). We have only hit 99 twice (the day before and the day after the 100).

Obviously we have topped 100 a few times with the heat index, but this is all still pretty out of expectations and welcomed.

Pretty sure it hit 101 yesterday (Augsut 1st) before the storms cooled it down. At least according to Chikage's twitter. 

 

 

[Guest Lobo]

Ah yes, it was 10 years ago today that part of our neighborhood started on fire.  That was fun.  Today was even better though.  

the reason you see "No Parking R.O.W." signs along the MoPac access road between Barton Springs Road and Barton Skyway when you're trying to park for ACL is because of that day.  

[Wally Pryor 5261]

1 hour ago, UnivTex34 said:

taken at 5:30 from South Austin

 

Fantastic pic. Thx

[irishtexan 11521]

I was hoping this week would finally get up to the 100s so I could enjoy my trip to Seattle that much more.

I spent all of July in chicago and part of me was a little pissed off at how mild the month was down in Austin. I thought my neighbor was gonna mow my lawn once mid-July but he never got around to it. Now I’ve got shin-high St. Augustine and thigh-high weeds. Mowing tomorrow is gonna be fun.

[phdhorn 6224]

If it rains today, it'll be more toward afternoon.  Front has gone south and stopped, most of the stuff is down past Victoria and south.  Front will slowly creep back toward us today - how far it creeps = how much and who.  Best chances south and east of ATX.

Tails off Wed, but another low is moving down on Thurs, good rain chances again during the day.

Friday on dries out and heats up, but still not above normal (remember our normal temp at this time of year is 99° so 100-101 is no big deal.

BTW we've had 3 days > 100, one in each of June, July, and August (Aug 1 was 101° @ Mabry, where it more or less is the official reading).

[texasdago 7575]

Had something like 1 1/2" of rain in SW Austin in the past 24ish hours.  No complaints here.  

[gsoda3 3262]

20 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

BTW we've had 3 days > 100, one in each of June, July, and August (Aug 1 was 101° @ Mabry, where it more or less is the official reading).

remember when we had like 19 days of >100 in may in 2011?  that was terrible.  this has been glorious although i've been gone for most of it.

[utee94 15830]

8 minutes ago, gsoda3 said:

remember when we had like 19 days of >100 in may in 2011?  that was terrible.  this has been glorious although i've been gone for most of it.

Yes, and there were a total of 90 days of 100+ for that entire summer, which shattered the old record of 69.

 

[Felix 607]

I got a really nice weather station from Ambient Weather on 7/2 and set it up on 7/3.  I'm in Manchaca.  Since setting up I've had 7.81 inches of rain at my house.  In July and August.  I have yet to register a temperature over 98.9 F.  My kind of summer.

[UnivTex34 1763]

56 minutes ago, Felix said:

I got a really nice weather station from Ambient Weather on 7/2 and set it up on 7/3.  I'm in Manchaca.  Since setting up I've had 7.81 inches of rain at my house.  In July and August.  I have yet to register a temperature over 98.9 F.  My kind of summer.

I'm just up the road from you with a similar station, and similar data.

[JimmyJames 12271]

1 hour ago, utee94 said:

Yes, and there were a total of 90 days of 100+ for that entire summer, which shattered the old record of 69.

 

That’s when we lost the lost pines. That summer was absolutely brutal.  The 100 degree heat started in may and never once let up. 112 degrees on Labor Day at about same time the fires started. 

[utee94 15830]

43 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

That’s when we lost the lost pines. That summer was absolutely brutal.  The 100 degree heat started in may and never once let up. 112 degrees on Labor Day at about same time the fires started. 

Yeah, Bastrop State Park was our favorite place to take our kids camping when they were little, such a quick getaway from Austin but still felt like you were in the middle of nowhere.  So much of it burned, and then it got overrun with rodents due to all the fallen trees and debris.  We haven't been back in probably 8 or 9 years.

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by utee94

[Hate 20109]

Yeah, Bastrop State Park was our favorite place to take our kids camping when they were little, such a quick getaway from Austin but still felt like you were in the middle of nowhere.  So much of it burned, and then it got overrun with rodents due to all the fallen trees and debris.  We haven't been back in probably 8 or 9 years.
 

You mean R.O.U.S?

[Hate 20109]

Yeah, Bastrop State Park was our favorite place to take our kids camping when they were little, such a quick getaway from Austin but still felt like you were in the middle of nowhere.  So much of it burned, and then it got overrun with rodents due to all the fallen trees and debris.  We haven't been back in probably 8 or 9 years.
 

You mean R.O.U.S?

[atomheartbevo 89702]

2 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

remember when we had like 19 days of >100 in may in 2011?  that was terrible.  this has been glorious although i've been gone for most of it.

Unfortunately, all of the folks who have recently moved to Austin from elsewhere (including out-of-state) are going to think this is the norm and get really settled in, so by the time they get the "real" Austin summer, they'll be too entrenched to want to move.

[gsoda3 3262]

Unfortunately, all of the folks who have recently moved to Austin from elsewhere (including out-of-state) are going to think this is the norm and get really settled in, so by the time they get the "real" Austin summer, they'll be too entrenched to want to move.

Hah yeah I was talking to a girl who'd moved here in Nov from Chicago and I said how great of a summer this has been and she's like "wait this isn't normal? It's been so hot".

[phdhorn 6224]

Another useless fact: July 2021 was #11 all time on the amount of rain for the month, but #4 in the number of days with measurable rain (12).

[yoladu 4094]

3 hours ago, utee94 said:

Yes, and there were a total of 90 days of 100+ for that entire summer, which shattered the old record of 69.

 

i will be telling the summer of 2011 stories to my grandchildren in my old age.

Edited August 3, 2021 by yoladu

[RamjetFDO 10577]

3 hours ago, Hate said:

You mean R.O.U.S?

[Bookman 4639]

5 hours ago, utee94 said:

Yeah, Bastrop State Park was our favorite place to take our kids camping when they were little, such a quick getaway from Austin but still felt like you were in the middle of nowhere.  So much of it burned, and then it got overrun with rodents due to all the fallen trees and debris.  We haven't been back in probably 8 or 9 years.

 

In San Antonio, one morning I had ashes all over my car from the fires.

[InkaUtexas 25955]

18 minutes ago, Bookman said:

In San Antonio, one morning I had ashes all over my car from the fires.

I was living in Bastrop during the fire. Remember watching a small "rain" cloud and went outside to see the pop up shower. It was the first smoke plume. Damn what an event. Within 12 hours I had 7 kids from my son's little league living at my place in town while their parents were trying to GTFO. 

 

[Biff Tannen 45691]

[InkaUtexas 25955]

I would need to go dig out a hard drive but I have almost the same picture. 

[Wally Pryor 5261]

On 8/3/2021 at 10:39 AM, gsoda3 said:

remember when we had like 19 days of >100 in may in 2011?  that was terrible.  this has been glorious although i've been gone for most of it.

Shit was heating up to 100 in May.   By the time July rolled around if you didn't get your outdoor crap done by 9 or 10A you weren't going to get it done that day.

[ROFL BOX 6649]

5 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

Shit was heating up to 100 in May.   By the time July rolled around if you didn't get your outdoor crap done by 9 or 10A you weren't going to get it done that day.

I think the D / FW MetroPlex set a record for the most 113 degree days in a year & it seemed like we roofed on every one of them (lotsa hail rolled through Plano, Dallas, Wylie, Mesquite, Addison, etc).  I think we did @baboso, "B" (can't find him in the tag list, may have a new name)... more than 6 or 7 Shaggers that summer.

Started around 0600, break around 1200, started again around 1400, rolled on to 2000.

[Guest Lobo]

5 hours ago, Wally Pryor said:

Shit was heating up to 100 in May.   By the time July rolled around if you didn't get your outdoor crap done by 9 or 10A you weren't going to get it done that day.

I don't really stop to think about how fucking insane for weather was in Central Texas in 2011.  The winter was brutal (by our standards) and served as a massive fucking red flag about our electrical grid that we're still ignoring.  Then it was "Spring" for about 15 minutes in March.  We already had a handful of 100* days, double digits of them by Memorial Day, and then 90 overall.  Shit, I think our last one was around Columbus Day.  I think there was 27 days in a row at 100* at one point in August/September.  The median temperature for the whole 92 days of the Summer Solstice to Autumnal Equinox was 90 degrees.  Never got below 80 degrees for the entire month of August, not even for a minute.  And of course, no fucking rain.  I think there was a normal December to close out the year.  But holy shit, that was horrible.  We'll probably repeat that 5 more times in my lifetime.  

25 years in Austin, finally figured it out.  It's muggy as balls early in the morning.  And I just never acclimated to the humidity here.  So I tried for years to get early morning yardwork or workouts done, but just couldn't motivate myself.  The trick is (depending on the AM shade orientation of your house and yard), to let the sun burn off the much of the humidity from about 6:00-9:00a.  Then you can get in about 2 hours of shit done outside where it's damn warm (85-90), but not insufferable.  Then by midday, everything creeps back up again so head inside.  For a few hours in the afternoon, I can tolerate woodworking or fixing shit in the garage with the backdoor open and fans on and frequent trips to the beer fridge.  I'm sure we all had the same thing happen in 2011.  You'd procrastinate a buncha shit in the yard or garage, you'd suck it up and work for a few hours.  Next thing you know, you look down---you'd thrown away 8 beers.  You're not even slightly buzzed, you haven't pissed once, and your ass makes a sloshing sound when you walk to get the wire cutters.  

But in 2011, it was 90 degrees when you woke up with no humidity, just wildfires and my grass trying to self-immolate itself.  100 degrees by the time I finally sacked up and went outside.  110 degrees by the afternoon.  Then 100 degrees when we'd watch the nightly news.  If we were lucky, I could take out the trash behind the house at 11pm without needing to hydrate first.  

[Brisketexan 105154]

I just remember one day in Sept of 2011 when it only got up to 95, and we thought it was so pleasant that we ate dinner out on our back patio for the first time in four months. 95, and it felt great compared to what we were used to.

[NorthLoop 14214]

I remember getting excited about hurricanes that never came. 

[jimmyjazz 45971]

I'm not advocating for drought conditions leading to massive grass fires which level 1,500 homes, but I'm here to tell you:  as someone who grew up in a part of the country that spent 3 months of the year intermittently iced in, even a 110 F day seems like a minor inconvenience.  But, I'm fortunate, I have air conditioning.  That's a big differentiator that people seem to ignore.

The snowpocalypse was not a minor inconvenience.  Hurricane Harvey was not a minor inconvenience.  Raging fires are not a minor inconvenience.  The Jarrell tornado, however limited in scope, was not a minor inconvenience for those families who lost everything, and plenty of them didn't even make it to sunset.

Mother Nature has seen fit to batter Texas with plenty of shit over the past decade or two, and it's escalating, by observation.  I'll take the hot weather, but when it comes with drought and fire, nope.  It's a very fine line.  Thank goodness our leaders aren't asleep at the switch.

 

 

[Updawg 2267]

It’s seems like one of these days west Austin is gonna get some fires that will be hard to contain.

[NorthLoop 14214]

Yeah when I drop my mixtape.

[Biff Tannen 45691]

7 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

Yeah when I drop my mixtape.

[phdhorn 6224]

Hmmm... looking for the rain thread, but only found "BlastFunace/Fires 2011" thread.  So I'll put the update here.

Rain chances will actually climb up this afternoon.  A combo of lows in NE Mexico and one near Lubbock will get close enough to each other to work with whatever moisture heads our way from the Gulf today (which is a lot) and give us best chance of rain in 2 days.  Nothing widespread or all day, more of a decent shower or storm for an hour or so.  I'd say about 50/50 in this area.

For almost 3 months now we've been touting this incredibly mild and generally pleasant summer, always with a leery eye down the calendar - after all, it is Austin and it is summer.  So far the pattern has proven to be long-range (i.e. not just a week or so) and has eventually returned.

But I think we're almost turning the corner after today and tomorrow to what's left of our more typical summer.  Rain will dry up and temps will start knocking about in the high 90's (although remember, the normal high for the next 5-6 days is 99, so 100 is nothing at all.  But there's still so much moisture in the ground that I think for temps to hit 100+ every day it'll take awhile.  In June and July, we'd have a brief run of hot and dry, but this pattern always has come back.  Now it looks like that might not happen.  However, we're now so late in the season it'll be interesting to see just how much hot/dry can work through September once the ground dries out.

Not sure if it will from here.  Aug. forecasts from CPC have turned drier and warmer - previously they've been cooler and wetter.

We could still have a return to the Summer of Heaven but I'm not sure it'll happen from here.

So enjoy the next 2 days - looks like we're about to start whatever summer is left.

Edited August 5, 2021 by phdhorn

[Hmbre97 6308]

Hmmm... looking for the rain thread, but only found "BlastFunace/Fires 2011" thread.  So I'll put the update here.

Rain chances will actually climb up this afternoon.  A combo of lows in NE Mexico and one near Lubbock will get close enough to each other to work with whatever moisture heads our way from the Gulf today (which is a lot) and give us best chance of rain in 2 days.  Nothing widespread or all day, more of a decent shower or storm for an hour or so.  I'd say about 50/50 in this area.

For almost 3 months now we've been touting this incredibly mild and generally pleasant summer, always with a leery eye down the calendar - after all, it is Austin and it is summer.  So far the pattern has proven to be long-range (i.e. not just a week or so) and has eventually returned.

But I think we're almost turning the corner after today and tomorrow to what's left of our more typical summer.  Rain will dry up and temps will start knocking about in the high 90's (although remember, the normal high for the next 5-6 days is 99, so 100 is nothing at all.  But there's still so much moisture in the ground that I think for temps to hit 100+ every day it'll take awhile.  In June and July, we'd have a brief run of hot and dry, but this pattern always has come back.  Now it looks like that might not happen.  However, we're now so late in the season it'll be interesting to see just how much hot/dry can work through September once the ground dries out.

Not sure if it will from here.  Aug. forecasts from CPC have turned drier and warmer - previously they've been cooler and wetter.

We could still have a return to the Summer of Heaven but I'm not sure it'll happen from here.

So enjoy the next 2 days - looks like we're about to start whatever summer is left.

[Biff Tannen 45691]

Seriously this is the coolest summer I can remember. 

[Guest Lobo]

Well, I did write in your yearbook, "Have a cool summer bro!"  As opposed to your lame-ass, "We had some fun times in Mr. Bookman's class this year!"  Fucking dork.  

Seriously, log-off and get some rest you breakthrough case you.

[phdhorn 6224]

Yeah, we all gonna git rained on within 30 mins.  Not super heavy but a steady patch coming through.  Heavier stuff SE of that (down by El Campo/Bay City/Port Lavaca) but could easily see an embedded potent storm sweep by in this blob coming up.

Enjoy this sucker, because the faucet goes off by tomorrow afternoon for at least 10 days it looks like.