Pretty much right after I published the last post, the NHC updated its internal files to show an upgrade to TS Bill. Since the forecast thinking is pretty much the same I just want to update the numbers with this post. You can find the post from a couple hours ago at: https://jonathanbelles.com/2015/06/15/effects-of-protostorm-bill-already-being-felt-ashore-system-and-residents-organizing/

Official Information as of 10pm CT: 

• Maximum Winds: 45 kt/50 mph
• Minimum Pressure: 1005 mb
• Center Location: 27.1N, 94.2W
• Movement around NW at 12 mph
• Tropical Storm Warning: Baffin Bay to High Island, TX
• More official information: http://www.Hurricanes.gov
• NWS Houston: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/  ; NWS Corpus Christi: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/crp/
• Some voluntary evacuation orders have been issued for Bolivar Peninsula. Check in with local authorities.

Let me stress that impacts have not changed just because we can find this system in the history books a little easier with a name. Landfall will be in the mid to late morning hours on Tuesday. The Hurricane Hunters will again take off for one last flight into this system at 9:15z/4:15am CT.

Overnight, expect an increase in the frequency in rainfall and the intensity of the winds along the coast and inland. Locations from Rockport to Beaumont should be the most impacted by winds and rainfall. By tomorrow afternoon, this Bill will probably make it to Texas capitol hill with heavy rain and gusty winds, and into north Texas on Wednesday. A long day in the Hill Country and I-35 corridor is ahead.

Expect a couple of days of long commutes in eastern Texas and around the Arklatex into Oklahoma. Please Don’t Drive into flood waters, your boss would probably want you to arrive late rather than not at all.

Have a great night, and stay safe!

–Jonathan