DALLAS, TX — A Moderate Risk for excessive rainfall has been issued for Wednesday across a large stretch of North and Central Texas and southern Oklahoma. A slow-moving cool front and an upper-level low are setting up a very heavy rain event. Two to four inches of rain are likely on Wednesday alone, with repeated rounds of heavy rain and lightning raising serious flooding concerns. The risk area covers the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, Wichita Falls, Abilene, Ardmore and Durant, and it could affect millions of residents across the Red River Valley and the Texas Hill Country.
Slow-Moving Front and Upper Low Fuel the Heavy Rain
The setup behind Wednesday’s rain threat is a slow-moving cool front combined with an upper-level low. When both systems move slowly, storms can form and move over the same areas again and again, a process called training. That lets rain pile up fast, and that is why forecasters are highlighting a Moderate Risk, a Level 3 of 4 on the excessive rainfall scale.
Because the front is expected to stall or crawl across the region, several waves of heavy rain could hit the same communities through the day. Each round adds to the totals and worsens flooding in areas already soaked by earlier storms.
Moderate Risk Zone Stretches From the Hill Country to Southern Oklahoma
The Moderate Risk area runs in a long southwest-to-northeast corridor. It starts in the Texas Hill Country near Junction, Mason, Llano, Eden, Brady and San Saba, then continues northeast through Ballinger, Brownwood, Stephenville, Breckenridge and Graham. In North Texas, the zone covers Dallas, Denton, the Weatherford area, Hillsboro, Clifton, Bowie, Nocona, Olney and Wichita Falls.
Across the Red River into southern Oklahoma, the risk extends through…