Regardless, the process cannot create storms out of thin air. Ken Leppert, an associate professor of atmospheric science at the University of Louisiana Monroe, said it “had absolutely nothing” to do with the flash floods in Texas.

The heavy rain that turned a river in Texas into a raging wall of water was fueled by unique atmospheric conditions, according to meteorologists and climate scientists.

Heavy rains fell quickly in the predawn hours of Friday in the Texas Hill Country, causing the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet in just 45 minutes.