As noted by the Washington Post, in an analysis of the highest one-day rainfall amounts done by Shane Hubbard of the University of Wisconsin, such a large amount of rain falling over a one-day period has a 0.1% chance of occurring in any given year. Sanja Perica, chief of the National Weather Service’s Hydrometeorological Design Studies Center, has noted that preliminary estimates for the area suggest that some locations likely received rainfall amounts that have a 0.1 (one in a thousand) percent chance of occurring in any year.Īnalysis from other groups also came to similar conclusion. This means that an official analysis of whether rainfall amounts in Harvey were a 1-in-500-year event or 1-in-1000 will have to wait for the time being. For the estimates to be valid, of course, scientists need an up-to-date record of historical precipitation, and NOAA was in the midst of an update for the Texas precipitation frequency data when Harvey hit. ![]() One of the ways meteorologists gauge the intensity of extreme events is to describe them in terms of their frequency or probability, based on historical observations. August rains reached a total of 54.73 inches, more than three times the previous wettest August and almost 32 inches more than the previous all-time wettest month (November 1902). Beaumont, TX, broke its record for wettest day on record on August 29 when over 26 inches of rain fell-more than double the previous record. Not surprisingly, August was the wettest month on record for the city (39.11 inches), more than double the previous wettest month (19.21 inches).Īs the storm slowly moved east, it brought its record-setting rains with it. Three of the airport’s 5 wettest days since 1930 happened during Harvey (August 26, 27, and 28). NOAA image using data the National Centers for Environmental Information.Īt Houston’s Hobby airport, the three-day rainfall from August 26-28 was larger than the previous record for wettest 65-day period. It was nearly double the previous pre-Harvey record for 4-day rainfall. From August 26-29, 35.6 inches of rain at Houston's Hobby Airport setting the record for wettest 4-day period. The top four wettest 4-day periods all involve rainfall related to Hurricane Harvey. Ranking of the 50 wettest 4-day periods on record at Houston's Hobby Airport. But even then, Harvey’s streak of catastrophic damage was just getting started The storm caused massive damage as it moved onshore, leveling buildings throughout Aransas County, leaving the city of Victoria without power or water, and destroying entire blocks in Rockport. It was the strongest storm to hit Texas since Hurricane Carla in 1961. ![]() Taking advantage of the warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and the lack of wind shear-changing of wind speed and/or direction with height in the atmosphere-Harvey rapidly strengthened as it set its sights on the Texas coastline.Īt landfall near Rockport and Port Aransas, Texas, Harvey was still a strengthening Category 4 hurricane with 130-mph winds. But it took until the Bay of Campeche for the storm to get its act together. This devastating storm had its origins thousands of miles from the Gulf Coast of Texas as a storm system that left the West African coast during the middle of August. ![]() Harvey made landfall in Texas as a category 4 hurricane. NOAA image using data provided by the NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory. Suomi NPP satellite image taken of Hurricane Harvey on August 25, 2017 using the VIIRS instrument.
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