Yes, North Texas, You Should Pay Attention to Hurricane Harvey

Sometime late Friday or very early Saturday, a massive weather system named Harvey, possibly a tropical storm but more likely a hurricane, is going to hit southeast Texas. While it appears North Texas will avoid the brunt of the winds, rainfall and flooding expected, Harvey is still going to have a big effect on the weekend. Here’s what you need to know as Harvey comes knocking.

Update: Friday 3:00 p.m. — As of Friday afternoon, forecaster have officially updated Hurricane Harvey to a Category 3 storm. The city of Dallas has opened a shelter for those fleeing the storm at Walnut Hill Recreation Center on Midway Road. While the city has plans to open two more recreation centers to evacuees and can house up to 5,000 people in the convention center’s parking garage, Dallas Office of Emergency Management Director Rocky Vaz said Friday that the city hopes only the single shelter will be needed.

In DFW, the forecast remains much the same as it was on Thursday. Harvey’s landfall is expected to lead to cooler, breezy conditions in Dallas. Scattered showers are possible, as well.

The state of the storm.
As of late Thursday, meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center expect Hurricane Harvey to make landfall Friday night as a Category 3 storm. On the Texas coast, a storm surge of up to 12 feet is expected, and as much as 20 inches of rain and damaging winds are expected in the areas hit hardest by the storm. Port Aransas, a city on the Gulf of Mexico’s Mustang Island, issued a mandatory evacuation order Thursday. Galveston and Corpus Christi called for voluntary evacuations Thursday afternoon.

P/C PIXABAY