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A disturbance moves out of New Mexico into North Texas on a slow-moving path eastward that’ll bring off and on rainfall to Texas during the next 48 hours. Overnight, the storms were strong again along the Rio Grande, and some of that rumbling just made it to I-35 before daybreak. Another round attemps to come our way before lunch.

Rain totals so far:

1.55″ Mason
0.70″ Fredericksburg
0.51″ Burnet
0.44″ Llano
0.40″ Killeen
0.30″ Johnson City
0.25″ Marble Falls

Keep the umbrellas ready to go! The heaviest rains hit the Hill Country first before arriving along I-35 with some small hail potential. At times, Doppler has indicated a decent chance for 1/4 inch diameter hail or larger with the strongest cells.

We’ll experience several waves of rain and thunder today, the heaviest likely this morning, with off and on lighter rainfall through into the night tonight. A 50% chance for showers & more storms continues in our area Tuesday. Futurecast depicts the upper-level storm moving northeast of Dallas by Wednesday morning, with our rain potential tapering by midday Wednesday.

We’ll get a break from the showers midweek but can’t rest completely easy as another small disturbance will spiral across Texas Thursday. With that, we’ll keep at least a 20% chance for a few isolated storms in that time frame.

Temps quickly take over the weather headlines, and, by Friday, some may observe the first 90 degree weather of the year. We’ll kick off the first weekend of May with springlike warmth, plenty of humidity, and strong south breezes. Saturday appears dry but some showers may return on Sunday. We’ll at least look for clouds to thicken up for the second half of the weekend.

Enjoy your Monday.

Meteorologist
Burton Fitzsimmons

A total of ten tornadoes developed in supercell storms across Texas yesterday, and today looks even worse. Travelers should be prepared as storms fire up, with a cold front delivering the heaviest along I-35 tonight. Starting tomorrow, dry and sunny weather returns…

Grab your umbrellas! So far this morning we’ve noted drizzle and light rain at times, but less fog has formed compared to yesterday due to breezy south winds. As of 6am along I-35, sustained SSE winds are noted at 12 to 15mph. This may buy back some of that time travelers lost yesterday morning.

Futurecast shows the cold front sweeping west to east across the state today, increasing our rain chance from 50% this afternoon to 80% tonight. Expect some wet travel and, with the strongest of storms, heavy downpours, frequent lightning, and possible street flooding. A Flash Flood Watch goes into effect for most of Central Texas at 7pm and continues through sunrise Wednesday.

What had been a fairly rare occurrence previously is happening for the third time this year: experts at the Storm Prediction Center believe the atmosphere is ripe enough to necessitate a “moderate risk” for severe weather in parts of our area, namely from Travis county north along I-35 to the Red River. They’ve issued a 45% chance for sizable hail, a 30% chance for damaging wind, and a 15% chance for isolated tornadoes in the News 8 viewing area.

Expect the peak of storms just prior to midnight, we believe. Additional scattered showers and isolated storms could continue through the early hours of Wednesday but will be tapering. As the big upper-air disturbance accelerates northeast, skies will begin to clear while the drier northwest breeze picks up.

Look for warm low to mid 80s through the end of the week. Another weak front makes a run on Texas late Friday into Saturday but doesn’t look capable of producing much rain at this point. Otherwise, our weather looks mostly dry right on into next week and into the first few days of May.

Be sure to check back with us here and on ‘Weather on the Eights’ for updates on tonight’s severe weather potential.

Enjoy your Tuesday.

Meteorologist
Burton Fitzsimmons