We have been working on a special report about severe weather  we think is very important for you to see. It will air tonight (Saturday) at 6:30 p.m. on KXAN-TV and here on kxan.com.

Tornado outbreaks earlier this month and in late February claimed dozens of lives, most in mobile homes. And we  found that many of those killed did not follow basic severe weather safety guidelines.  That was true last year too, during several historic tornado outbreaks, in what ended up being the deadliest year for tornadoes in modern times.

For that reason, we decided to find out if people in our local area were knowledgeable about severe weather safety.  We took our cameras out this month and asked many people some very basic questions, and I have to admit, we were very surprised, even shocked, to hear some of the answers.

For example, in a mobile home community, not only did most people we talked to not know the correct place to go if a tornado was approaching, they had no plan at all.

In our special, “Surviving the Storm,” we will show you the specific steps you should take in various severe weather scenarios. Whether it’s a tornado, lightning, or flooding, and whether you live in a mobile home or a high rise, we will have step-by-step instructions for you.

We also want to interact with you during the show. We will be conducting a live chat on kxan.com, and taking your questions via Twitter (please use the hashtag #kxan), Facebook, and email.

If you’d like to make sure your question gets answered, go ahead and send an email now, then make sure you watch tonight.  Send it to: weather@kxan.com

We will be chatting with you during the entire hour from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., but the 7-7:30 p.m. segment will only be a kxan.com webcast, so make sure you are logged on here and have clicked on the live stream.  If you miss the live broadcast, we will repeat it tonight at 11 p.m. on KNVA, and at 5 p.m. Sunday on KBVO, but without the live webcast and interactive portion of the show.

We’re really looking forward to our broadcast/webcast tonight, and really hope you’ll join us!

 CLICK HERE to download our new entire 7 part Severe Weather Guide, or CLICK HERE to view or download individual sections (quicker loading).

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows even more improvement east of Austin. Only parts of the Hill Country, like Gillespie and Blanco counties, remain in the severe category.

DROUGHT INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
1258 PM CDT THU MAR 29 2012

...PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...THE HILL COUNTRY AND
RIO GRANDE PLAINS REMAIN IN MODERATE TO TO EXTREME DROUGHT
STATUS...

SYNOPSIS...
DROUGHT CONTINUES TO PLAGUE A LARGE PORTION OF SOUTH CENTRAL
TEXAS...BUT RAINFALL FROM THE LAST THREE MONTHS CONTINUES TO
ELIMINATE THE SHORT TERM DROUGHT IMPACTS ACROSS THE REGION.
FOLLOWING THE RAINFALL EVENTS IN MARCH THE LAKES AND RESERVOIRS
HAVE CONTINUED TO SEE INCREASES. THE WESTERN SECTIONS ALONG THE
RIO GRANDE HAVE SEEN SLIGHTLY LESS RAINFALL...BUT EVEN HERE THE
TOTALS FOR MARCH ARE ABOVE NORMAL. WITH THE WETTEST TIME OF THE
YEAR FROM NOW THROUGH JUNE ANY ADDITIONAL RAINFALL WILL LIKELY
CONTINUE TO PROVIDE IMPROVEMENTS IN LAKE AND RESERVOIR LEVELS.

THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER (CPC) IS FORECASTING THE LA NINA PATTERN TO WEAKEN AND TRANSITION INTO AN ENSO (EL NINO SOUTHERN
OSCILLATION) NEUTRAL PATTERN BY MAY 2012. WITH AN ENSO NEUTRAL
PATTERN EXPECTED BY LATE SPRING WE SHOULD CONTINUE TO SEE A MORE
TYPICAL RAINFALL PATTERN.

THE US DROUGHT MONITOR (USDM) VALID MARCH 27TH AND ISSUED ON MARCH
29TH...SHOWED MOST OF THE REGION CONTINUED TO SEE SOME
IMPROVEMENTS DUE TO THE RECENT RAINFALL. THE MAJORITY OF THE AREA
IS CURRENTLY IN MODERATE (D1) TO SEVERE (D2) DROUGHT STATUS.
PORTIONS OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND RIO GRANDE PLAINS FROM VAL VERDE
COUNTY NORTHEAST TO KERR COUNTY THEN NORTHEAST TO WESTERN
WILLIAMSON COUNTY REMAIN IN EXTREME (D3) DROUGHT STATUS. A LARGE
PORTION OF THE AREA ALONG AND EAST OF I-35 FROM AUSTIN TO SAN
ANTONIO IS NOW IN ABNORMALLY DRY STATUS (D0). AS WE SEE ADDITIONAL
RAINFALL THEN MORE IMPROVEMENTS ARE LIKELY.

CURRENTLY 67 PERCENT OF THE STATE IS IN MODERATE DROUGHT (D1) TO
EXCEPTIONAL DROUGHT (D4). ONLY 18 PERCENT OF THE STATE REMAINS IN
EXCEPTIONAL (D4) DROUGHT STATUS. THERE ARE LOCATIONS ACROSS NORTH
CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST TEXAS WHERE DROUGHT IS NO LONGER A PROBLEM.
AS ADDITIONAL RAINFALL IS OBSERVED ACROSS THE STATE CONTINUED
IMPROVEMENTS WILL BE NOTED IN THE THE DROUGHT SEVERITY.

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Five sounding rockets streaked into the pre-dawn sky on March 27, 2012, leaving trails of milky white clouds in a little understood part of the atmosphere. The first rocket was launched to the cusp of space at 4:58 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and the subsequent launches occurred at 80 second intervals. The goal of the Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment (ATREX) was to improve understanding of the process that drives fast-moving winds high in the thermosphere.

Fiery trails from four of the five sounding rockets are clearly visible in this time-lapse photograph (top) of the launch. The second image shows two of the clouds left in the wake of the experiment; the rockets released trimethyl aluminum, a substance that burns spontaneously in the presence of oxygen. The harmless by-products of this glowing reaction were visible to the naked eye as far south as Wilmington, North Carolina; west to Charlestown, West Virginia.; and north to Buffalo, New York. Both photographs were taken near the launch site at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. (more…)

Rainfall is so vital to South Central Texas.  Not only to replenish the lakes and aquifers, but for recreation, agriculture, and even landscaping.   In order for meteorologists at the National Weather Service to better forecast and document rainfall and flooding, there is a need for volunteers in a program called Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS).  CoCoRaHS is a program which involves all 50 states and encourages the general public to report rainfall, hail, and snow.  Anyone can be a volunteer for this project; all you need is a good accurate rain gauge and an enthusiasm for weather.

There is no cost to join CoCoRaHS.   Simply go to the CoCoRaHS website and follow the instructions on how to become a member.  If you don’t have an official four inch rain gauge, you can purchase one through the CoCoRaHS website.  Observers are encouraged to log onto the website daily and submit their report even if rain did not occur.   In addition to rainfall, hail reports are also very important to the Austin/San Antonio National Weather Service.  Your hail reports can be submitted to the CoCoRaHS website.  Not only can the reports you submit help save lives, but they will also help research scientists, hydrologists, emergency managers, engineers, and more.  For more information regarding CoCoRaHS, please feel free to visit the website at www.cocorahs.org.  If you have any other questions contact your regional coordinators, Mark Lenz or Steve Smart, at 830-606-3600.

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Barton Springs Pool - USGS Photo

The Austin Parks and Recreation Department Aquatics Division will re-open Barton Springs Pool on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. The pool’s hours of operation are from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. The pool was closed on Tuesday, March 20 due to flooding. 

Barton Springs Pool will be open on Thursday, March 29 from 5.a.m. to 10 p.m. Normally the pool is closed on Thursdays between 9:00 a.m. and 7 p.m. for cleaning.

Because recent rains have filled Lake Georgetown to capacity, the City of Round Rock has lifted its mandatory once-weekly water restrictions, effective immediately. The City is encouraging its utility customers to follow the twice-weekly voluntary watering schedule.

 Last year’s drought and heat wave, coupled with a pump failure in the City’s water supply system, necessitated the move to mandatory restrictions beginning last October. While Central Texas remains in a drought, the crisis that led to the mandatory once-weekly restrictions has passed.

 “Lake Georgetown is full and our supply system is fully operational, so we are lifting the mandatory restrictions,” Utility Director Michael Thane said. “But our customers need to remember we were about in the same position last year at this time. The weather can and will change and mechanical systems can fail, so we need to use this limited natural resource wisely.”

 The twice-weekly voluntary watering schedule is:

• ·Residential customers with an odd-numbered address should water Wednesday and/or Saturday
• ·Residential customers with an even-numbered address should water Thursday and/or Sunday
• ·Commercial, industrial, apartments, governments and institutional customers should water on Tuesday and/or Friday.

 Customers should make every effort to not water between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., or on windy days, because of evaporation.

 We know many customers will start to run their sprinkler systems again, now that the restrictions have been lifted and temperatures are rising. The City of Round Rock offers the following tips:

• If you are concerned about your water usage, you can schedule a free irrigation system evaluation by licensed City staff at 671-2872 or by emailing Jessica Woods, Water Conservation Specialist. We will determine how many gallons your current schedule uses, provide a recommended watering schedule and recommend any system upgrades that may benefit your yard. The City will not make repairs.
• The City offers an Efficient Irrigation Rebate for older, existing sprinkler systems.
• Seasonal recommended runtimes and irrigation tips.
• Evaluate your irrigation system on your own, with these instructions.
• Basic operating instructions for irrigation controllers can be found here.

For more information on what the City is doing to conserve water, visit roundrocktexas.gov/waterconservation.

What beautiful weather we have been enjoying most of this month.  Everyone loves the weather, even the plants and animals, but I have heard people expressing some worry about the early warm temps.  A common question “boy, what is summer going to be like if it’s this warm already?”   Great question!  In short, I don’t think it will be quite as hot this summer.  Typically when we have wet months, the temperatures tend to be at or cooler than normal, and when we have dry months, they tend to be warmer.  In fact, looking back at the past 63 months worth of data (3 months this year plus the past 5 years) we have had drier and warmer than normal months about 52% of the time.  We have had wetter and cooler months about 28% of the time.  About 16% of the time we have had months that were wetter and warmer than normal, and 40% of those have occurred in March.  Now the Climate Prediction Center does short, medium, and longer range forecasts.  The forecast for the next 3 months (April, May, June) shows a slightly above normal chance that we will see warmer temps, and pretty much even chances of seeing normal precipitation for that three month period.  That is especially good news if that does play out as May and June are typically some of our wetter months.  Below are the images from the CPC’s site.

Looking at the forecasts these seem fairly reasonable, and the latest forecast from the US Drought Monitor shows a slowly improving drought across our area from now through the end of June.  If I was making a guess about how hot it will be this summer, I would say not as bad as the last few years.  In fact, I think temperature-wise it could be quite normal.  We have to remember though, what is normal for Central Texas summer is still very hot.  But I think the 100 degree days will be much harder to come by if we continue our wetter pattern into summer.  Along with the wetter soils, we have a ton of green vegetation, which in turn is helping to keep the air closer to the ground a bit more moist.  Something that is important to remember is that dry air heats up (and cools down) a lot quicker than moist air.  That’s why when the humidity is high, morning lows are warmer, and afternoon highs are a bit cooler.  It takes more energy to make the temperature change.  Something I have noticed lately from some of our forecast models is that they have done a rather poor job on afternoon highs, and I think a big part is the moisture in the soil and the vegetation are much higher than normal, and aren’t correctly being accounted for.  Having said that, I think as we head into April and May, if we can continue to get our weekly rains, the plant life and the soil will stay happy and moist, and temps won’t be quite as hot.  Looking at data since 2007, there have been 2 years where we have had much wetter than normal starts to the year.  Those years ended up being slightly below normal for temperature and wetter than normal for precipitation as well.    So just because its warmer now, doesn’t mean a brutal summer is on the way.  One thing I can promise, if this wet weather keeps up… the mosquitoes are going to be above normal this year… maybe I should buy some stock in OFF!  :)

The heavy rainfall that fell Monday night into Tuesday morning has really helped the area lakes.  We have seen lake levels rise 5-7′ in the past few days.  Overall the 1/2 foot surplus of rainfall in 2012 and the above normal rainfall to close out 2011 has really helped to chip away at our terrible drought.  In fact according to the US Drought Monitor, we have seen huge improvements in the drought, even in the past week.  The latest stats show that the state of Texas currently has 10% of the state not in a drought, up from 7% last week, and 0% at the start of the year.  The worst category drought, Exceptional, covered 86% of the state 6 months ago, and still 32% at the start of the year.  The current reading is down to about 18% of the state, and the bulk of that is out in West Texas.  In our area things are much better as well.  In fact, this week the category 3, ‘extreme drought’ was removed from our area.  Currently parts of Hill Country are still under a “severe drought” with most of the rest of our area in a “moderate drought”.  However, looking at the map below just east of I-35 in Travis County, the conditions are just considered “abnormally dry”.

The area lakes are still seeing slight increases, and we even saw boats out on Lake Travis this afternoon, which is a nice sight.  Water temp at Lake Travis is currently in the middle 60s, between 63-65 today, which is still chilly, but with more sunshine forecast and warm temps, the lake should stay in the mid 60s heading into the start of April.

From the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District:

At its meeting on March 22, the Barton Springs/Edwards Aquifer Conservation District’s Board of Directors declared a No-Drought condition for the aquifers within the District, effective immediately.  The second of the area’s two groundwater drought indicators – the water level in the Lovelady monitor well – has been rising steadily because of the extraordinarily wet winter and spring.  The other indicator, sustained flow rate at Barton Springs, moved above its threshold in late January, but both indicators need to be above designated thresholds to emerge from drought.  The District declared a groundwater drought on April 28, 2011, with mandatory water-use restrictions being enforced since then.  In No-Drought status, groundwater users are encouraged to maintain conservation practices, but water use restrictions are lifted.

“With good reason, meteorologists were predicting a dry winter and spring.  I’m glad they were wrong.  We received record rainfall just above the recharge zone—just where we needed it.  The Edwards Aquifer has been replenished, but it’s far from an aquifer-full state.  Now that we’ve got water in the bank, we’ve all got to use it wisely.  These droughts reinforce how valuable water really is.  We know the next drought is coming, we just don’t know when, or how long it will last,” noted Kirk Holland, the District’s General Manager.

Dr. Brian Smith, a principal hydrogeologist at the District, explained, “Onion Creek above the recharge zone has been flowing since mid-February.  The rains in December and January eventually saturated the soil zone, which was in a severely parched state from last year’s record dryness and heat, and finally produced run-off to streams.  Water makes its way through fractures and caves in creek beds into the aquifer.  Four months of above average rainfall have contributed major amounts of recharge to the aquifer.”

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