
Inland communities brace for triple-digit heat as major warm-up develops
KCAL News has issued a Next Weather Alert ahead of the upcoming weather event to prepare communities for the scorching heat that could impact daily life.
The alert has been issued for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the Inland Empire, valleys and high deserts.
A Next Weather Alert has been issued for the Inland Empire, valleys and high deserts starting on Wednesday. Temperatures could reach up to 105 degrees in some areas.
KCAL News
KCAL News Meteorologist Amber Lee says conditions could reach record-breaking heat.
The National Weather Service is urging vulnerable populations to take extra precautions during the hot weather period. Weather officials say the hottest days should be Wednesday and Thursday with temperatures expected to reach up to 105 degrees in the valleys, deserts and lower mountains. Coastal communities will experience a slight warm-up as well, but conditions will remain between 70 and 80 degrees.
Vulnerable populations:
Pregnant individuals
Newborn children
Young children
The elderly
People with chronic illnesses
The NWS recommends people drink plenty of water, use air conditioners and stay in the shade and wear loose-fitting clothes.
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Forbes
9 minutes ago
- Forbes
Blame Cast After Texas Floods: Were Warnings Too Late Or Too Weak?
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday fired back at suggestions that staffing shortages at the National Weather Service or problems with emergency alert systems impacted the response to the deadly Texas floods over the July 4 holiday weekend—but Texas state officials and others have questioned their effectiveness after the disaster. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said blaming the Trump administration's cuts for ... More exacerbating the disaster was a 'despicable lie.' Getty Images One high-profile public official in Texas placed early blame on the early NWS forecasts for failing to predict the severity of the storm—'listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service,' Texas Division of Emergency Management chief W. Nim Kidd said at a press conference Friday, noting 'it did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.' A New York Times report published Saturday then detailed staffing shortages at the NWS offices in San Antonio and San Angelo, but representatives for the NWS employees union told CNN the offices had 'adequate staffing and resources.' The San Antonio office was missing a warning coordination meteorologist, a role that works with officials to send emergency alerts, after the office's 32-year veteran meteorologist took an early retirement offer earlier this year as part of the Trump administration's move to downsize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, local station KXAN reported. The National Weather Service, however, issued alerts of increasing severity ahead of the flash flood, which included an overnight text alert warning of a "dangerous and life-threatening situation." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised the NWS, but said President Donald Trump wanted to improve the NWS' warning system, telling reporters at a press conference 'we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years.' When asked on Sunday, President Donald Trump called the situation the 'Biden setup,' but stopped short of directly blaming his predecessor for the destructive floods: 'I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either, I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe." 'Flash Flood Warnings were issued on the night of July 3 and in the early morning of July 4, giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours,' NWS said in a statement to multiple outlets. When Did The First Warnings Go Out? The Texas Division of Emergency Management activated their emergency response resources as early as Wednesday in anticipation of heavy rainfall and potential flash floods. The NWS issued the region's first flood watch on Thursday afternoon, around 1:18 p.m. CDT, then issued a flood warning that evening at 11:42 p.m. CDT. The NWS in San Antonio also sent a text alert to cell phones in the area, warning of a "dangerous and life-threatening situation" around 1:14 a.m. CDT, Reuters reported. The NWS' Weather Prediction Center noted in a 12:26 a.m. CDT discussion that flash flooding was 'likely' over central Texas, with 'significant impacts possible,' predicting up to six inches of rain in the region. Some municipalities in the area ended up recording over 20 inches of rainfall over the course of the holiday weekend, according to data compiled by the NWS. The Guadalupe River rose over 20 feet in just three hours on July 4, according to data from NOAA. In the immediate aftermath of the July 4 floods, state officials said they were caught off guard by the severity of the storm, despite the warnings. 'Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming,' Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said at a press briefing Friday. 'We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever.' Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the warnings may not have communicated the acute danger the storm posed for Kerrville, which was severely impacted by the flooding. 'There were alerts or warnings about heavy rain, potential for flash flooding in certain areas,' Abbott said at a press conference Sunday. 'The problem with that is that to most people in the area, flash flooding would mean one thing—not what it turned out to be. Because they deal with flash floods all the time, just like I put people on notice in these regions of Texas right now. There's the potential for flash flooding, but there's no expectation of a water wall of almost 30 feet high.' How Has The Trump Administration Responded? Speaking at a briefing Monday afternoon, Leavitt lashed over claims staffing shortages or policy decisions from the Trump administration contributed to the disaster. 'Unfortunately, in the wake of this once in a generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media. Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning,' Leavitt said, praising the NWS' response and disputing reports that they were impacted by staffing shortages. 'The National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, which delivers the forecasts for Austin, San Antonio, and the surrounding area had extra staff on duty during the storm, despite claims of the contrary.' What To Watch For Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote a letter (first published by Politico) to the Commerce Department's acting inspector general, urging him to open an investigation into whether staffing shortages at the NWS offices in San Antonio and San Angelo contributed to 'delays, gaps, or diminished accuracy' in forecasts or weakened weather alerts. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, also called for an investigation.. 'I don't think it's helpful to have missing key personnel from the National Weather Service not in place to help prevent these tragedies,' he said during an interview with CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday, though he didn't directly blame the tragedy on staffing. 'I don't want to sit here and say conclusively that that was the case, but I do think that it should be investigated.'
Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
What to know about deadly Texas flash flooding
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31 minutes ago
These are the factors that contributed to the extreme Texas flooding
A "worst case scenario" of meteorological events combined with dryness and topography of the landscape in central Texas contributed to the weekend's extreme flash flooding event that killed dozens of people in the region, according to reports. On Friday, torrential rain pounded the region, causing the Guadalupe River in Kerr County to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes -- the second-highest on record, officials said . This is what led to the flash flood emergency: The weather patterns "Extraordinary" rainfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour in some areas -- such as Kerr County and Mason County -- equated to up to 18 inches in some spots, according to measurements from the National Weather Service (NWS). "That volume of water falling over relatively short periods of time -- that's a disaster waiting to happen," Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News. Atmospheric conditions in place over the Southern Plains at the time favored slow-moving thunderstorms, which increased the odds of heavy rain and flash flooding due to their ability to sit over the same area for hours. In addition, the region favors heavy rainfall events. The atmospheric conditions were further enhanced by an abundant amount of tropical moisture coming from several sources: the Gulf, monsoonal moisture from the eastern Pacific and remnant moisture from Tropical Storm Barry, which made landfall on the east coast of Mexico on June 29. While the weak system quickly dissipated as it tracked inland, its remnant circulation continued to quietly linger up north toward the Texas-Mexico border, bringing some tropical moisture from the Bay of Campeche up to Texas. An extremely high level of atmospheric moisture over the region provided ample fuel for persistent torrential rain and extreme totals. There were "some very clear meteorological signals," such as a tilted trough and a mesoscale convective vortex, that contributed to the extreme precipitation, Shepherd said. The mesoscale conductive vortex essentially spun the remnants of a tropical system, causing significant ascent or rising motion to activate that moisture into condensation and precipitation in an efficient manner, according to Shepherd. As a result, there were "very extreme" precipitable water values, which is the measure of how much water would contend to be rained out of a column. It's one of the "telltale signals" that meteorologists look for in flooding events, he noted. "Those are sort of the worst case ingredients, from a meteorological standpoint," Shepherd said. The region is prone to flash flooding The complex terrain of the hilly community exacerbated the emergency, Shepherd said. Texas Hill Country is often colloquially referred to as " Flash Flood Alley" because the weather and landscape in the south-central Texas region work together to produce rapid flood events, the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI) noted. Flash Flood Alley is known as one of the most flood-prone regions in the U.S. due to its high susceptibility to flash flooding with steep terrain, shallow soil and repeated high rainfall events. The Guadalupe River Basin is one of the three most dangerous regions in the country for flash floods, according to the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority. The Gulf provides an infinite source of air over the region, making high rainfall intensities a common occurrence. In addition, places like Hunt and Kerr Counties are situated on a floodplain between tall, rugged hills that funnel any rainfall down into rivers and creeks below. In this event, the extreme rainfall funneled into the Guadalupe River, which led to the rapid rise in water levels. The region's rocky topography makes it especially prone to flash flooding, according to the TWRI. The type of clay-rich soil in the region contributes to the flash flooding because clay soils have low infiltration and trigger high water runoff once wet, it said. Drought Severe to exceptional drought conditions were prevalent for much of south-central Texas when the downpours came, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Kerr County has been in drought since the beginning of 2025. Drought conditions can make areas more susceptible to flash flooding as the soil cannot absorb rainfall as efficiently. This exacerbated the higher flash flood risk that already existed in the region due to its rocky topography. "The landscape was probably quite dry, and so anything was falling was probably running off quite rapidly, in the same way that water would run off on a paved surface," Shepherd said. Messaging challenges While the threat of the flooding was communicated more than a day before the rain event began, the timing of the emergency -- during the middle of the night -- may have contributed to the high death toll. The Texas Department of Emergency Management activated state emergency response resources in anticipation of increased threats of flooding in parts of west and central Texas heading into the holiday weekend, it noted in a press release. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration included the flash flooding risk in its three-to-seven-day hazards outlook, according to Shepherd. Flash flood warnings, including the flash flood emergency -- the highest alert for flash floods -- are distributed by the NWS in the same manner as tornado warnings: via the national EAS and WEA alert systems. "There were indications days to hours in advance, but there's still questions about getting it across the goal line," Shepherd said. "Normalcy bias" may have played a role as well, since people in the region are used to receiving flood warnings, Shepherd added. "People perceive that they're used to these types of events, although their benchmarks in their minds might not prepare them for like an anomaly or a 'black swan' type of it," he said. While there are questions about cell phone service and access for a way to receive the NWS and other emergency alerts, NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR), which are battery powered and have better nationwide coverage reliability than cell service, are a long-standing and reliable alternative highly recommend by NWS and meteorologists across the country . NWR is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest NWS office. It broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every camper and camp -- as well as every person in the country -- should have a NOAA radio, ABC News Chief Meteorologist and Chief Climate Correspondent Ginger Zee said. "This is battery powered and will wake you from a dead sleep," Zee said. "The timely warnings from NWS that night can be programmed to go off and would wake folks and give them at least a few minutes, if not longer, to seek higher ground." With a NOAA weather radio, a flash flood warning would have blared around 1:14 a.m. local time, about three hours in advance of the catastrophic flooding, Zee said. The weekend flooding killed at least 94 people -- many of whom were campers and counselors from Camp Mystic, a Christian girls camp situated on the Guadalupe River. At least 11 campers are still unaccounted for, officials said on Monday. "This terrible tragedy highlights why policymakers need to continue making robust investments in science-based weather and climate models and forecasts, alongside investing in a robust local emergency alert system and disaster response and recovery," Rachel Cleetus, policy director and lead economist for the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News.' "We won't be able to completely eliminate every risk, but we cannot let reckless cuts to critical agency functions, including NOAA and FEMA, put more people in danger especially as climate change fuels worsening disaster," Cleetus added.