http://www.houstonchronicle.com/life/art...172287.php
"...Typically, tropical storms and hurricanes - their distinctions come from wind speeds - lose gusto once they reach land. But what made Harvey so unique is not only that it was stalled by high pressure systems, which act as "mountains" blocking movement, so to speak, but that it stalled out with part of its body hanging over the Gulf of Mexico.
"Harvey was just hanging out around the Gulf Coast, it had one foot in the Gulf and one foot on land, and (that placement) acted like a conveyor belt pulling water out," said Bernhard Rappenglueck, a professor of atmospheric science at the University of Houston.
Hence, the record precipitation.
The professor says there was also a tropical disturbance, named "Ten," along the Atlantic Coast that helped box Harvey into Texas' Gulf Coast, slowing it to a pace of 2 mph. Once "Ten" left, Harvey began to move faster, and away from Houston."
Sidebar has a lot of numbers on Harvey:
51.88 inches of rain in Mt. Belvieu(until the rain gauge broke), record for a storm and more than the highest
annual rainfall ever recorded at Houston's airport (IAH).
39.11 inches of rain at IAH in August, more than double the previous record month.
2 of the 5 wettest days in Houston history, 16.07 and 8.37 inches of rain. Official rain totals are at IAH, which is well away from the Gulf and typically tends to have less rain than much of the metro.
+3
