“’Houston, we have a hurricane.’ Our thoughts and prayers are with folks feeling Harvey’s wrath, as dawn breaks after a long night of rain.”
~Astronaut Jack Fischer, International Space Station, Aug. 27, 2017

Words cannot adequately describe the immensity and impact of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey. It doesn’t seem fair to mention our current heat wave within the same paragraph.

At present, satellite imagery indicates a ridge of high pressure over the Nevada-Utah border. It’s dominating weather influence reaches throughout the southwest. Day- after day of record-breaking heat is likely to be with us into next week. This very same high-pressure system is also responsible for stalling the behavior of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey.

The significance of the anomalous western ridge, or high-pressure system, is especially highlighted as it sets the stage for a tremendous tropical rainfall event over 1,000 miles away. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Harvey continues moving slowly and is expected to decelerate and eventually stall over land within 100 miles of the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend – potentially remaining within 150 miles of the Houston area into next week.

This extremely sluggish movement will occur due to the combined influence of the powerful western ridge (which prevents westward movement and a rapid breakup over relatively arid west Texas) and the lack of low pressure over the central U.S. (which prevents Harvey’s circulation from being “picked up” by a larger passing storm and moving on). Thus, as the West Coast bakes amidst yet another prolonged heat wave, simultaneously parts of the Gulf Coast are under attack by deadly and devastating Harvey.

By Wednesday, parts of Texas had received up to 50 inches of rain. In perspective, that is more than La Crescenta gets in two years! Keep your eyes on the Gulf Coast region and keep it in your prayers in these upcoming days.

Our current heat wave is going nowhere fast and is predicted to hang tight through the Labor Day weekend. Inland valleys – the Crescenta Valley included – are under an Excessive Heat Warning. A local weather station recorded 112.5 degrees on Monday. Dominating offshore winds are keeping our normal evening air conditioning off the coast and away from us. Checking the thermometer one last time before retiring last night at 12:30 a.m., it read 88 degrees. Much to my distain, the windows remained closed.

Question: “If a cricket chirps in a garden on a warm summer night and no one can hear it from within the house, does it make a sound?”

Sue Kilpatrick is a
Crescenta Valley resident and
Official Skywarn Spotter for the
National Weather Service. Reach her at  suelkilpatrick@gmail.com.

  Sue Kilpatrick