One glaring takeaway of the tragic, horrific flash flooding deaths in Texas: buy a NOAA Weather Radio. It’s the cheapest form of life insurance around. With Specific Area Message Encoding (SAME) technology, you can enter just your county. A screeching alert at 2 a.m. will wake up the entire house (trust me). Don’t count on your phone to get the warnings you need to stay safe.
The Guadalupe River in Kerrville, Texas, rose at least 34 feet in only five hours during the early-morning hours of July 4. The local NWS office DID issue a “Flash Flood Emergency.” There WERE warnings in effect.
It was a deadly cocktail of factors: a warmer, wetter atmosphere and remnants of Tropical Storm Barry. Kerr County, Texas, doesn’t have a local flood warning system. Nighttime weather disasters always claim a disproportionate number of lives. People are sleeping, not paying attention.
Our best chance of thunderstorms here comes Monday and again on Friday. Weather models hint at an extended heat wave the third week of July, with a streak of 90s. Don’t write off summer heat yet.
