Hurricane Harvey And Purple Rain — Weather Service Added New Colors To Chart Massive Rainfall

HOUSTON, TX — Thanks to Hurricane Harvey and its unprecedented rain and flooding, the National Weather Service ran out of colors to chart the rainfall, so they added two new colors. And both colors are shades of purple for rain, so now folks can channel their inner Prince while taking cover and seeking higher ground.

The old scale had 13 shades that started at light green and ended with dark purple, representing the scale of 0.1 inch of rain to 15-inches. Then came Harvey, which is now a tropical storm and brewing once again in the Gulf of Mexico.

On the new scale, the first thing the NWS did was bump dark purple to represent rain of 15-20 inches. They then added two lighter shades of purple, one to represent 20-30 inches and another for 30 inches or greater.

"The storm was so bad the TV channels and National Weather Service had to add new colors to their map because even they'd never seen anything like this," Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Tuesday morning in a press conference.

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The National Weather Service responded to various media requests Monday by releasing a statement to those outlets.

"Some perspective on the amount of rainfall that Tropical Storm Harvey has put down across Southeastern Texas and Southwestern Louisiana,” the NWS stated. “We've had to update the color charts on our precipitation graphics in order to effectively map it."

Harvey slammed Rockport, Texas as a Category 4 Hurricane on Friday and moved eastward to Huston, where it hovered over the Bayou City for more than three days. Several places around Houston got the lightest shade of purple as they received more than 30 inches. South Houston had the most with 49.2 inches. Places in five different counties in the Houston each had more than 30 inches of rainfall.

Recovery and cleanup efforts continue for Harvey, which has claimed 15 lives, completely flooded a city and its two airports and crippled much of its infrastructure.

Harvey is projected to move eastward and hit the Louisiana coast.

Photo via National Weather Service