A Tornado Watch is in Effect Until 6:00pm CST
Good afternoon everyone. As forecasted yesterday and this morning, we are watching a vast area of heavy showers and thunderstorms fueling up and becoming more intense with the help of some afternoon sun working the atmopshere.
We have a narrow line of strong to severe thunderstorms stretching from the southeast corner of Kansas, through eastern and central Oklahoma, and down into northeast Texas. Ahead of that intense line, we are seeing scattered heavy showers and thunderstorms across the extreme northeast corner of Texas, into western Arkansas, heading into a wide swath of Missouri.
Some of these storms have had a history of large hail, damaging winds, frequent lighting, torrential rain, and radar-indicated rotation. For this reason, the National Wealther Service has issued a tornado watch for parts of northeast Texas and central/eastern Oklahoma until 6:00pm CST.
We expect these watches to expand as these storms move to the east/northeast, all while growing southward and eventually reaching down near the Texas Gulf Coast and parts of Louisiana. This is a long-duration event, and we expect severe weather possible throughout the region into the overnight hours and tomorrow from west to east.