An active weather pattern is setting up across Texas, as a cold front moving into North Texas interacts with high levels of atmospheric moisture. Along the front, scattered strong to severe storms are expected to develop Tuesday afternoon, with large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes expected to be potential threats.
As the front continues to the south on Wednesday, the severe weather shift will shift to portions of Central and South Texas, including Austin and San Antonio. Here’s an overview of what to expect in Texas over the next 48 hours.
Tuesday severe weather
Thunderstorms along the Red River were soaking far North Texas Tuesday morning and, by the middle of the day, more storms are expected to develop. These storms will move east-southeast, likely affecting parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex as well as East Texas by the late afternoon and evening.
The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center has upgraded parts of North Texas to a rare level 4 of 5 risk for severe weather, which includes the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and areas northward to Sherman and Denison. A level 3 risk of severe storms extends eastward to include Tyler, Longview, and Texarkana. The highest chances for storms in the metroplex are expected between 4 and 8 p.m.
The atmosphere across this region is expected to grow extremely unstable by the afternoon. Because of that, the weather agency notes that the strongest supercells could produce “very large to giant hail”, measuring 2 to 4 inches in diameter. A few isolated tornadoes could arise in this region, especially during the early evening…