we had some highly welcome rain! 🙂 it started with that usual “beep” sound with which people watching TV are made aware of weather alerts and then a severe thunderstorm alert was running across the screen, like it’s usual here when thunderstorms, tornadoes or “just” flash floods are imminent. I also had quite a few e-mails in my inbox on the computer as I am subscribed to these warnings by the local weather services. Here two examples:
“===============================
Severe Watches and Warnings for KARNES CITY ===============================
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1136 PM CDT SAT APR 27 2013
…SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHEASTERN ATASCOSA…WESTERN KARNES AND SOUTHERN WILSON COUNTIES UNTIL 1215 AM CDT…
AT 1130 PM CDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES SOUTHWEST OF POTH…MOVING SOUTH AT 20 MPH.
HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF NICKELS AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM…ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT DANGEROUS LIGHTNING.
LOCATIONS NEAR THE PATH OF THIS STORM INCLUDE…
KARNES CITY… KENEDY…CAMPBELLTON…SMITHSON VALLEY… HELENA…DEWEESVILLE…MCCOY…COY CITY…FASHING…PEGGY…
THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY…AND A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AREA. BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS…AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS…FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
THE HEAVY RAIN MAY FLOOD LOW LYING AREAS SUCH AS DITCHES…LOW WATER CROSSINGS AND UNDERPASSES. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE ACROSS FLOODED ROADWAYS.
LAT…LON 2865 9839 2906 9830 2909 9785 2870 9772
2868 9777 2868 9787 2871 9791 2869 9801
2877 9810 2866 9827
TIME…MOT…LOC 0436Z 353DEG 18KT 2894 9817″
“Weather Alert for Karnes County, TX
! Special Statement ! Issued at: 11:36 PM CDT on April 27, 2013, expires at: 12:15 AM CDT on April 28, 2013
…Significant weather advisory for southeastern Atascosa…western Karnes and southern Wilson counties until 1215 am CDT…
At 1130 PM CDT…National Weather Service meteorologists detected a strong thunderstorm 9 miles southwest of Poth…moving south at 20 mph.
Hail up to the size of nickels and wind gusts up to 40 mph are expected with this storm…along with heavy rain and frequent dangerous lightning.
Locations near the path of this storm include…
Karnes City… Kenedy… Campbellton… Smithson Valley… Helena…
deweesville… McCoy… Coy City… Fashing… Peggy…
This storm may intensify…and a Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for this area. Be certain to monitor local radio and TV stations…as well as local cable TV outlets…for additional information and possible warnings from the National Weather Service.
The heavy rain may flood low lying areas such as ditches…low water crossings and underpasses. Do not drive your vehicle across flooded roadways.
Lat…Lon 2865 9839 2906 9830 2909 9785 2870 9772
2868 9777 2868 9787 2871 9791 2869 9801
2877 9810 2866 9827
time…Mot…loc 0436z 353deg 18kt 2894 9817
! Areal Flood Advisory !
Issued at: 11:25 PM CDT on April 27, 2013, expires at: 12:00 AM CDT on April 8, 2013
…The Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory for minor flooding of poor drainage areas remains in effect until midnight CDT for northeastern Karnes…south central Bexar…northern Wilson…
Lavaca…southern Gonzales and northern DeWitt counties…
At 1118 PM CDT…showers and storms continue to affect most of the southeastern counties with heaviest rainfall occurring around southern Bexar County and central Wilson County. Expect these storms to persist overnight with additional one to two inches of rainfall accumulations. Doppler radar storm totals through 11 PM this evening average from 3 to 6 inches over the most affected areas.
Precautionary/preparedness actions…
When water covers the Road…turn around don’t drown. The life you save may be your own.
Lat…Lon 2910 9691 2911 9840 2914 9848 2924 9846
2947 9742 2953 9675 2934 9656
! Severe Thunderstorm Watch !
Issued at: 11:03 PM CDT on April 27, 2013, expires at: 1:00 AM CDT on April 28, 2013
Severe Thunderstorm Watch 142 remains in effect until 100 am CDT for the following locations TX . Texas counties included are Atascosa Austin Bandera Bastrop Bell Bexar blanco Brazoria Brazos Burleson Caldwell Chambers Colorado Comal DeWitt Dimmit Edwards Fayette Fort Bend frio Galveston Gillespie Gonzales Grimes Guadalupe Harris Hays Houston Jackson Karnes Kendall Kerr Kinney Lavaca Lee Leon Liberty Madison Matagorda Maverick Medina Milam Montgomery Polk real Robertson San Jacinto Travis Trinity Uvalde Val Verde Walker Waller Washington Wharton Williamson Wilson Zavala”
When these warnings came in [of course there had been earlier ones], I could already see some [still far-away] lightning and there were some few drops of rain on the sidewalks. But shortly afterwards the thunderstorm started for real: lightning without end, further away but also close by – seemingly overhead – accompanied by loud thunderclaps [sally, of course, has crept under the living-room table again, frightened as she usually is by thunder] that sometimes shook the house, and it really poured: the rain came down in buckets. Thank goodness nothing serious happened: no lightning struck the house and the gusts of wind were not strong enough to do any damage. Everything started to calm down fairly quickly, at around half past midnight. I don’t know when the thunderstorm finally died down, though, as I went to bed shortly before 1 AM.
Oh, btw: I was unable to follow the development on my computer any more, because – as happens quite often during thunderstorms – our internet connection to/with Karnesec.net – our provider – had broken down again.
This morning my first order of the day was to check our rain gauge and I was happy to see that, even with a short rain only, we had 2 inches. Most wonderful! 🙂 But even with that amount we’ve only had roughly half of what we had at the same time last year, and that was already a dry year at that. How dry the soil was and how badly we needed that rain is shown by the fact that even early this morning there were no puddles in the garden nor in the driveways, quiet different than what we usually see after such an amount of rain: the soil had soaked up all the water. And thus we’re waiting for more – urgently.
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A German Expat's Life in Texas 
Rain is a great thing. We had drought for the past two years. Plus it feels great to stay indoors and get that much needed sleep.
Hallo,
And thanks for taking your time to stop by and visit my blog. 🙂 We certainly need much more rain here as we’re in our third year of an exceptional drought.
Enjoy the weekend,
Pit
Sure hope you get some more rain this year Pit. I get the weather alerts here in Hawaii also. Not for tornadoes but things like high seas, heavy rain/wind, flash floods and oddly snow advisory for the upper elevations on the Big Island which can occur even in June. Good luck with moisture over there.
We hope so, too, tghat we’ll get more rain. We might be lucky, as La Nina – which influences our weather – seems to be diminishing. That would make for a more active hurricane season, which usually brings more rain. But of course, that’s a really mixed blessing, if you need hurricanes to provide you with rain!
Down here, of course we don’t get snow warnings. But we do get warnings for the “bigger balls of snow” – hail. That’s quite frequent in thunderstorms here.
Thanks for you good wishes, and have a great weekend,
Pit
Hi Rhythm,
Thanks for taking your time to stop by and visit my blog and leave a comment. Didn’t you get any rain out of that front on Saturday? I was under the impression that there was more rain up to the north, where you live, than we had down here. Anyway: I’m keeping my fingers crossed that you’ll get some rain, too, and soon at that.
Best regards from southern Texas,
Pit
Lucky you!! I wish some would make it up this way! i need some puddles!