HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — An ABC13 Weather Alert Day has been issued for Friday as strong to severe storms develop over Southeast Texas. Storms and the severe risk are expected to continue into the evening. Storms will begin to develop near and north of I-10, and gradually drop south throughout the afternoon and evening.
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for much of SE Texas excluding our coastal counties until 8 pm this evening. Hail up to 3″ in diameter and wind gusts up to 70 mph will be the main threats. An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.
Because the storms will initially form during the peak heating of the day, the atmosphere will be extremely unstable, so the storms could produce severe hail and wind gusts over 60 mph. They will also initially be slow to move, which could drop over half a foot of rain in some spots and lead to street flooding. Most that do get rain will pick up between 1-3″. These storms will continue into the evening as they sag southward toward the coast. The greatest risk for severe weather is along and north of I-10, but area-wide we need to be on alert for severe weather potential. The storms are forming ahead of a cool front that should dry things out for most of the weekend.
So how does the weather look for the weekend?
We expect the front blowing in Friday’s storms will push just far enough into Southeast Texas to give most of us a pleasant humidity drop with lows in the mid 60s Saturday and in the upper 50s Sunday. The front won’t completely clear Southeast Texas until Saturday afternoon, so there could still be some showers and thunderstorms southwest of Houston toward Matagorda Bay. Abundant sunshine will warm high temperatures into the low 80s, a little below average for the first week of May.
Are more storms coming next week??
More than likely, yes. We expect another active stretch of stormy weather from Tuesday through Thursday as a large upper-level storm spins to our west for a few days. Severe weather and flash flooding are possible, but it’s too early to get more specific than just identifying the general threat for our region of Texas.
This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.
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