NHC orders Weather Radar flights into Invest 90L, June 17
The National Hurricane Center requested weather radar reconnaissance flights into Invest 90L after severe storms early Monday morning struck two homes in Thunder Rock, a section of a Texas town. The first Hurricane Hunter flight is scheduled for Wednesday, June 17, with an initial target arrival time of 0600Z, or 2:00 a.m. ET.
Those flights are meant to determine whether the disturbance in the western Gulf of America is organizing into a tropical depression or storm this week. The system is also tied to repeated rounds of torrential rain that could trigger widespread flash flooding across South, Central, East, and Southeast Texas over multiple days.
Thunder Rock Fire Response
Spicewood Fire Rescue said it was called to two separate homes in the Thunder Rock section after two lightning strike structure fires were reported within five minutes of each other. Several fire agencies responded to the scene. Minor damage was reported in the first fire, and the second home was a total loss.
No injuries were reported. For residents in the path of the storms, the immediate concern has already shifted from one lightning strike to the next hazard on the same weather setup.
Abbott Mobilizes State Resources
On Monday, Governor Greg Abbott directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to mobilize additional state emergency response resources. He also moved the Texas State Emergency Operations Center into 24-hour operations.
The state response comes as the Texas Panhandle braces for large hail and damaging wind gusts today, while multiple regions face triple-digit heat index values. The weather pattern is broad enough to create more than one problem at once, and the Gulf disturbance is only one piece of it.
Hurricane Hunters Over Gulf
The Hurricane Hunters will fly low-level data patterns into the western Gulf of America to look for a closed surface circulation and pinpoint where a center of low pressure is trying to form. Satellites can only see so much from space, so the crew will also drop specialized sensors called dropsondes.
Those sensors will send back real-time wind speed, barometric pressure, and atmospheric temperature data to the National Hurricane Center. The first flight gives forecasters a direct look inside Invest 90L before the threat to Texas becomes harder to read from satellite images alone.
