Nerve Endings Firing Away

I was stranded in Houston this past weekend and had to bunk work and classes due to heavy rainfall that hit the area. Stranded might be a extreme word, it was more like comfortable ensconced at Ash’s apartment. Last time I attempted to drive through lashing rains, I was nearly creamed by the 18-wheeler that went whizzing back rattling my poor ol’ Tercel. Thankfully, the wireless we had been leeching on in the summer made a return and I could satisfy my Internet urges.

Now, although I hate mentioning the weather each time it rains heavily I am always surprised by the amount of rain I have experienced in Texas over the past year. I have always considered Texas a dry almost-desertish land with little or no rainfall. Probably, I had the desolate West Texas landscape that gave me that impression. But those who have lived here can attest to the fact that East Texas is largely flat too and you can see for miles with no trees obstructing your view. In Georgia, such a view is available only along the stretch of the freeway and that too just straight ahead.

Out here in College Station if you notice the trees carefully, they are hardy and remind me of the Tree of Life that I saw in Bahrain (fighting the odds). Just the other day, I was talking with a colleague and she was complaining that the trees are dying due to lack of adequate rainfall. As if to correct that anomaly, the weather gods opened the skies over the past week. If you see your evening news, the news clip following the Hawaiian earthquake was that of a flooded Houston. This was the second time in almost 3 months that Houston got almost 6-7 inches of rain. Conroe, a place not too far from College Station got an astounding 12 inches; the record for maximum rainfall over a 24-hour period however is held by Alvin, TX:

On July 25, 1979 Tropical Storm Claudette stalled over Alvin and inundated the region with 45 inches in 42 hours. That total included 43 inches in 24 hours, the maximum 24-hour rainfall in US history [source].

Holy Guacamole! That’s more than the rain we received in Mumbai on July 26th cloudburst. If that wasn’t enough, just yesterday I drove down to my regular coffee shop and it was bright and sunny. After an hour, I lifted my head to peek outside, the rain was coming down in sheets. It continued accompanied by some awesome display of lightning through the night and today morning, it was bright and sunny again with not a trace of clouds in the sky. Hmmm…strange weather this. Nope, I am not mentioning the GW words.

Technorati Tags: rainfall, College Station, Texas, Houston, thunderstorm