Imelda may leave Austin high and dry

Tropical Storm Imelda will likely offer little to no relief for the Austin area’s moderate drought conditions after the storm’s path Tuesday took a turn to the east, National Weather Service forecasters said.

Weather service meteorologist Cory Van Pelt said scattered showers and thunderstorms were still expected throughout the week, but only about a half-inch of rain is projected to drop over the Austin area come Wednesday.

“Each day we will have scattered showers and storms that will develop,” Van Pelt said. “The system is going to move slowly, but we aren’t expecting any flooding.”

Last weekend, before the storm began to organize and move toward Texas, Van Pelt thought some parts of Central Texas could receive up to 3 inches of rain. But by Tuesday, most of the area was expected to receive only about a half- inch, he said.

Austin, however, still has a 40% chance of rain beginning Wednesday. Those chances will increase to 70% on Thursday but diminish slightly to 50% Friday.

The National Hurricane Center initially gave the disturbance a 10% chance of developing into a tropical storm. But it strengthened along the Texas Gulf Coast into Tropical Storm Imelda. The storm made landfall Tuesday afternoon near Freeport.

Any significant effects from Imelda will likely be east of Central Texas throughout the week, Van Pelt said. Officials in the Houston area were preparing high-water vehicles and staging rescue boats Tuesday as Imelda came ashore, The Associated Press reported.

In Austin, Bryce Bencivengo, public information officer for the city of Austin’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, said his team will monitor the storm.

Bencivengo said with predominantly dry weather over the last month, the rain will hopefully provide some relief in the Austin area.

Maximum temperatures in September so far have reached into the low 100s on all but four days. The Austin area normally receives 1.76 inches of rain during September, but it only has recorded 0.19 inches as of Tuesday. August, which normally sees 2.35 inches of rain, measured only 1.51 inches.

Parts of Travis, Caldwell, Bastrop, Hays and Fayette counties are under moderate drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

“At this point we are just going to monitor the situation, and hopefully we'll get a little rain and it will get a little cooler and we won’t have any adverse effects,” Bencivengo said.