Tag Archive for: Texas Water Newsroom

NWS Says Chance of San Jacinto River Flooding in Next Three Months is Minor

The National Weather Service (NWS) predicts only minor flood risk for both the West and East Forks of the San Jacinto through the end of May. That’s the good news.

NWS predicts only minor long range flood risk for the East (38.85%) and West Forks (26.22%) of the San Jacinto.

Drought Conditions Expanding Across Texas

But there is a downside: potential drought.

The reason for the low risk has to do with a below-average rainfall pattern across much of Texas. The Texas Water Development board posted two stories in the Texas Water Newsroom last week about the potential for drought. Large parts of the state are already severely behind on rainfall for the year and the pattern is expected to continue through May when weakening La Niña conditions could return us to normal.

Source: Texas Water Development Board as of end of February 2021.

The map above shows that most of the Houston area has received about 90% of expected rainfall year to date. But large parts of the state have received less than 20%. TWDB predicts those dark areas on the map will expand at least through May. At that point, TWDB predicts only the extreme eastern part of the state will not be in some kind of drought condition.

At the end of February, drought covered just over half the state, according to the TWDB. Statewide storage in our water-supply reservoirs is at 82 percent of capacity, about three and a half percentage points less than normal for this time of year. 

Drought Relief Could Come as La Niña Fades

Says Dr. Mark Wentzel, Texas Water Development Board Hydrologist, “The National Weather Service anticipates drought expansion across all but the eastern edge of the state by the end of May. Looking a little farther out there is some good news. La Niña conditions, that are at least partially responsible for drought in Texas, are expected to dissipate after April.”

So, the river flooding outlook could be very different by Hurricane season this year.

Did snow in February not help? Not really. Wentzel points out that snow is mostly air. It takes up to a foot of snow to equal and inch of rain.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/14/2021

1293 Days since Hurricane Harvey

Texas Water Development Board Launches New Web Site

The Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) has launched a new website called the Texas Water Newsroom.

A new site by the TWDB

Water Supply and Flood Planning

TWDB is the state agency responsible for water supply and flood planning, financing, and research. The agency helps ensure Texans plan and prepare for the perpetual threat of water scarcity and water surplus in Texas.

Water Newsroom Emphasizes Newsworthy Issues

The new website emphasizes news and timely topics. It bridges the gap between water professionals and consumers. It is a filtered, scaled-down, simplified version of the Board’s existing website, which can best be described as voluminous.

The Texas Water Newsroom was created to tell the stories of Texas water—the people, places, issues, and efforts. It contains videos, articles, press releases, and more. TWDB updates the stories regularly. All content is available for public use and reproduction for informational purposes. However, TWDB discourages promotional use.

Currently featured articles include:

A Layer Cake of Information

The story on regional water plans in the Water Newsroom caught my eye. It talked about how sixteen regional water planning groups are putting the finishing touches on their plans to ensure their areas have enough water to survive a drought. It contained a link to the current drafts of the plans by region. Houston is in Region H.

The Region H plan consists of two parts: the 326 page plan and 1576 pages of appendices.

I won’t pretend that I’ve read the whole thing. But I did skim it. And I found buried nuggets of information that revealed political/legal/private agendas in play.

That in itself is inevitable. But some are shocking. One in particular caught my eye: “Flood Liability of Water Supply Reservoirs.” It contains a legislative recommendation that has the potential to take away some of your rights.

More on that in a separate post. Suffice it for now to say that the TWDB really does need public input on these recommendations. And I probably would not have found that recommendation had it not been for the new website. Check it out. Bookmark it. And visit often.

For future reference, I’ve posted it on the LINKS page of this web site.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 6/9/2020

1015 Days after Hurricane Harvey