Latest news with #Kleebauer
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Climate
- Miami Herald
Search for Texas flooding victims suspended amid new heavy rains
Emergency crews in central Texas suspended their search for victims of recent catastrophic flooding as another night of heavy rain touched off new flash flood warnings. The Kerr County Sheriff's Office ordered volunteers, equipment and vehicles to vacate the area around Guadalupe River as water is expected to rise, it said on its Facebook page. Highway 39 in the area has been closed to all vehicles except residents and emergency personnel. "This is a dangerous and life-threatening situation," the sheriff's office said in a post. "Do not attempt to travel unless you are fleeing an area subject to flooding or under an evacuation order." The latest round of storms comes just over a week after the area was devastated by a July 4 deluge that killed at least 120 people and left many more missing. A wide swathe of the region got between 2 to 4 inches of rain overnight, with some spots getting more than 8 inches as thunderstorms continue to pound the area, said Scott Kleebauer, a forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. More storms are forecast later in the day. "It is one of those setups; there will definitely be heavy rainfall again tonight," said Kleebauer. "Those areas down there are so sensitive, so that any type of heavy rainfall could cause a problem." The area north and west of Austin, the state capital, was hit by devastating floods on July 4, when heavy downpours caused river levels to rise with startling speed. Kerrville, a small town about 55 miles northwest of San Antonio and the seat of Kerr County, was particularly hard hit. Among other things, the swollen Guadalupe River struck a girls' summer camp, killing at least 27 children and counselors. Local, state and federal officials have been under scrutiny since the event over their initial response, particularly how a county prone to floods lacked warning sirens when forecasts warned of the danger of flash floods. President Donald Trump visited Kerrville on Friday. The Guadalupe River in Kerrville is forecast to rise by nearly 6.8 feet by Sunday afternoon, the National Weather Service said. Meanwhile, the San Saba River in the city of the same name, northwest of Austin, has already risen more than 2 feet and is forecast to rise another 20 feet by Tuesday. Flood watches extend from southern Texas on the Mexican border to eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. The area northwest of Austin is covered by flash flood warnings through Sunday morning as radar picked up thunderstorms drifting through the area dropping rain at rates of 2 to 4 inches on top of what was received overnight. _____ Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Hindustan Times
04-07-2025
- Climate
- Hindustan Times
California's Largest Wildfire of the Year Forces Evacuations
A fast-moving California wildfire exploded to become the state's biggest of the year, forcing evacuations and the closure of a highway, and evoking memories of the devastating blazes that laid waste to parts of the state in January. California's Madre Fire has spread rapidly since it ignited Wednesday. The Madre Fire ignited Wednesday afternoon in San Luis Obispo County and has since grown to more than 52,500 acres, according to Cal Fire. It was just 10% contained early Friday. A section of Highway 166 was closed and evacuation orders issued across a wide area of San Luis Obispo County, the California Department of Transportation said. Dry conditions have sparked more than 65 wildfires in California in the past two days, bringing fears that the coming weeks could see a repeat of the rapacious fires that tore through communities in January and left dozens dead. The Los Angeles wildfires destroyed more than 15,000 homes, businesses and other structures. They are set to be the costliest in U.S. history, according to analysts, with estimates of damage reaching tens of billions of dollars. A helicopter dropped water during firefighting efforts on Thursday. San Luis Obispo County, in the Central Coast area, is much more sparsely populated than the greater Los Angeles area, but the fast-moving Madre Fire is expected to continue to spread. 'With the current weather, terrain, and fuel conditions this fire has seen exponential growth in less than 24 hours in multiple counties surrounding the San Luis Obispo County area,' the U.S. Forest Service said Thursday in a post on social media. 'Smoke impacts will be far-reaching.' Nearly 600 personnel were on the ground tackling the blaze, alongside more than 40 fire engines and four helicopters, Cal Fire said. Several smaller fires were burning east of Los Angeles, in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Those were largely contained by Friday morning. Dry conditions are likely to complicate efforts to contain the Madre Fire. Hot and dry conditions are expected to continue in San Luis Obispo County through the weekend and into next week, Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service, said Friday. 'This is nothing too unusual for this time of year temperature-wise but the issue we could see is that there is no rainfall forecast for the next several days and even into next week,' Kleebauer said. 'Temperatures look set to go well into the 90s next week, and maybe even into triple digits in some of the adjacent valleys.' The strong Santa Ana winds that fueled the earlier fires in Los Angeles aren't a factor at this time of year, he added. In January, winds reached a record-setting 100 miles an hour in mountainous areas and across urban regions of the Los Angeles basin, causing fires spread faster than crews could fight them. Write to Gareth Vipers at California's Largest Wildfire of the Year Forces Evacuations
New York Times
13-03-2025
- Climate
- New York Times
The South and Midwest Face Days of Severe Weather and Tornado Threats
'A multiday severe weather episode,' the Storm Prediction Center called it, in their key message this week. Bringing with it a threat of damaging wind gusts, large hail, tornadoes and thunderstorms, a powerful cross-country storm and its associated cold front are expected to unleash widespread severe weather from the middle Mississippi Valley to the Lower Ohio and Tennessee Valleys beginning Friday. While the effects are expected to be significant, Scott Kleebauer, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, said a storm of this strength is not unusual for this time of year. 'It is a very textbook early spring disturbance.' Mr. Kleebauer said. Winds high in the atmosphere are pulling warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico northward, where it will collide with colder air to the north. 'That's going to cause heavy rain and a severe outbreak across the South.' The Storm Prediction Center expects the greatest risk of severe storms to develop late Friday afternoon into Friday night, especially across parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Mississippi and Alabama. The system fueling this outbreak already made its mark on other parts of the country earlier in the week, starting as an atmospheric river that slammed into California, unleashing rain, snow and flash flooding. As the system moved east, it brought the threat of blizzard conditions and powerful winds to the Great Plains and Upper Midwest. At the same time, the storm's trailing cold front swept across the central United States, creating dry and gusty conditions that fueled critical fire weather across parts of New Mexico and Texas. By Thursday and Friday, that fire risk had expanded across much of the central and southern High Plains. The severe weather threat began affecting parts of the South late Wednesday, when the Storm Prediction Center warned of thunderstorms producing hail and severe gusts across parts of the South, in an area stretching from northwest Texas and the Midwest across to northern Florida, through Thursday. However, Friday draws the greatest concern, with the risk for widespread damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes increasing significantly as the storm intensifies over the Rockies. Forecasters say the storm is likely to undergo rapid cyclogenesis, making it a 'bomb cyclone' because its central pressure is expected to drop rapidly in 24 hours, creating a more volatile system. Although the core strength of the storm will remain well to the north, its influence will be felt in the Southern states. 'Some of the severe thunderstorms are going to be displaced from the center of the storm,' said Bob Oravec, the lead forecaster at the Weather Prediction Center. These storms will develop along the cold front as it moves eastward, creating a line of severe weather stretching across large portions of the South and Midwest. Heavy rain is also a growing concern, especially across parts of the lower- to mid-Mississippi Valley into parts of the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, where the Weather Prediction Center has noted a marginal risk for excessive rainfall from Friday through Saturday. The threat of severe weather is expected to continue into the weekend, as the front pushes eastward. 'There is a slight chance of severe weather anywhere from North Florida all the way up along the East Coast to the Washington D.C., area, Philadelphia and just outside New York City,' Mr. Oravec said. 'It's not going to be as great a risk as areas farther to the west.' On Saturday, the Storm Prediction Center highlights parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama as areas facing the greatest severe weather risk, including damaging gusts, hail and 'significant tornadoes.' The storm is expected to move offshore on Monday.
