Texas Wildfire Satellite Images, East Flooding Severity?

There was a lot going on weather-wise this weekend... see my Facebook Page for more... but there still is plenty interesting today! First and foremost, the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee have combined with a cold front and will deliver an additional 5-10 inches (depending on who you ask) to Central Pennsylvania. The latest AccuWeather.com forecast is shown below; updated information is available from our news story on the subject.

These amounts will add to the incredible swath of heavy rain from Lee, over 10 inches in the Deep South (shown below). The Pennsylvania Storm Chasers are on the lookout for flooding, but Henry says this will not be like Irene's flooding, or even the remnants from Hurricane Ivan in 2004, despite similar amounts (Ivan delivered a quicker punch with different meteorological conditions). That's good news for Central Pennsylvania, because we got walloped by Ivan with the worst flooding since 1972, as I documented.

However, the NWS has 7 gauges over Moderate Stage in the next 48 hours, with 1 (the Juniata River at Williamsburg) over Major Stage.

Meanwhile in Texas, they set a new record for "number of homes burned by one fire." The MODIS satellite images from yesterday clearly showed the two largest fires in the area and our news story on the Texas fires gives more details and shows incredible videos.

The fires were caused by the recent extreme drought and heat wave in the Southern Plains. Note the clearly large burned area visible in this satellite photo of one of the Oklahoma fires. the NWS in Lubbock explains that the smoke had looped southwest to their city today.