Active Weather
Heat and water are both active here today, in different parts of the region.
Heat advisories are in effect for Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas. The advisory issued for Arkansas runs until Sunday evening, which makes this a multi-day stretch rather than a single hot afternoon.
On water, Texas carries four flood warnings, issued by the Houston and Galveston forecast office, along with a flash flood warning in the Midland and Odessa area. A flood warning means flooding is happening or is about to happen. A flash flood warning means it is expected to develop quickly, which is the version that gives the least time to react.
New Mexico is under a flood watch running until Saturday evening, issued by the Albuquerque office. A watch is a step below a warning and means conditions are favorable for flooding without it being underway yet.
The single most useful thing in this brief today is the oldest one. Do not drive into water across a road. That is the National Weather Service's Turn Around, Don't Drown guidance, and it applies in exactly these conditions, where dry ground and sudden rain meet in the same afternoon.
The two hazards interact in a way worth naming. Heat pushes people toward evening activity, and evening is when the flash flooding in this pattern tends to develop. If you are moving around after dark in west Texas or New Mexico today, water over a road is harder to judge than it looks.
Infrastructure
No large wildfires are burning in the region. The national wildfire preparedness level is 4, down one step from 5 yesterday. The year to date national total stands at 52,939 fires and 8,296,949 acres, which is 125 percent of the ten year average for fires and 160 percent for acres.
No grid emergencies or water system disruptions are reported across the five states this morning. Sustained heat does put steady demand on the grid, and localized flooding is the more likely cause of a road or service disruption today.
If you lose power and run a generator, the Consumer Product Safety Commission's guidance is to operate it outdoors only, at least 20 feet from the house, with the exhaust pointed away from windows, doors, and vents. Working carbon monoxide alarms belong on every level of the home and outside sleeping areas, and should be tested monthly. If a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, get outside first, then call 911. Generators must never be run in a garage, even with the door open.
Public Health
Heat is the public health item across Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention names the people who need to take extra care on hot days: adults 65 and older, infants and young children, children with asthma, people with heart disease, pregnant women, and outdoor workers and athletes.
Its guidance is to stay in the shade as much as possible, take breaks when you can, and do outdoor activities during the coolest parts of the day. Indoors, the CDC notes that fans should be used only if indoor temperatures are below 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Dialing 2-1-1 connects to information on local cooling centers. On water, the guidance is to carry a water bottle and drink and refill it through the day, and to limit drinks high in sugar and sodium along with caffeine and alcohol.
The signs of overheating the CDC lists are muscle cramping, unusually heavy sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness, headache, weakness, and nausea.
If flooding has affected a water system near you, the boil advisory is the thing to check for rather than to assume. None are reported in the region this morning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Health Alert Network archive could not be read this run, so this brief makes no claim about national health advisories in either direction.
Watch Item
Drought is the longer story underneath today's flooding, and the two are related more closely than they look. The United States Drought Monitor map valid September 1 puts 49.5 percent of the continental United States in drought, with 17.5 percent in severe drought, 8.1 percent in extreme drought, and 1.4 percent in exceptional drought. The Southern Plains is one of the three areas the Drought Monitor's own regional summaries single out.
Ground that has been dry for a long stretch does not absorb a sudden heavy rain well. It sheds it. That is why a region in drought can produce flash flooding from a rainfall total that would be unremarkable on wet ground, and it is the reason the flash flood warning and the drought designation are not in conflict.
For a household the practical consequence is about routes rather than supplies. The low spot on your normal drive is the one that fills first, and it fills faster in a dry year than a wet one. Knowing an alternate route out of your neighborhood is worth five minutes of looking at a map.
On heat, the advisories in effect run into Sunday evening in Arkansas. Treat consecutive hot days as cumulative rather than as separate events.
Looking further out, the Atlantic basin holds no tropical cyclones, which for the Louisiana and Texas coasts is a quiet week during what is normally the season's peak. It is the week to start a flood insurance policy if you have been meaning to, since new policies generally carry a waiting period before they take effect and a standard homeowner policy does not cover flood.
Explore Today
Flash flooding on dry ground is its own hazard. This is the calm, specific version of getting ready.
The household plan for a multi-day stretch of heat, and for the day the cooling fails.
If a water system goes down, most homes already store forty gallons or more. Here is how to reach it safely.