Tornadoes, Hail Threaten Texas and Louisiana as Severe Thunderstorms Hit

Thunderstorms affecting the South are set to bring severe weather, including potential tornadoes, to Texas, Louisiana and other neighboring states.

Texas, which is still reeling from being hit by multiple storms, can expect intense hail and wind Thursday afternoon and evening.

The conditions are expected to strike across the central and southeastern parts of the state, with “an organized cluster of storms” possibly developing later at night, the National Weather Service reported. It added that this would likely bring “damaging wind gusts.”

Parts of East Texas are in danger of “excessive rainfall and flooding” as the week goes on, the NWS said. The thunderstorms may also move into Louisiana, central and southern Mississippi, and western Alabama.

The NWS has classed the risk in Birmingham, Alabama, and New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as “slight.”

However, the risk has been registered as “enhanced” in much of Texas: Austin, Abilene, Killeen and Round Rock. It is slight in Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington, the NWS said.

The NWS described the conditions behind the severe weather, writing: “Seasonably high moisture content has generally become suppressed offshore of the southern Atlantic Seaboard through the central Gulf of Mexico and lower Rio Grande Valley, in the wake of a surface cyclone now centered offshore of the northern Mid Atlantic Coast.

“The cyclone is forecast to weaken and migrate away from the coast, as associated large-scale mid/upper troughing progresses east of the Atlantic Seaboard through early Friday.

“As this occurs, and similar magnitude mid/upper troughing (at least initially) emerges from the Southwest, low-level moisture appears likely to surge northeast of the lower Rio Grande Valley toward the lower Mississippi Valley.”

The storms are the latest in a wave of severe weather that has hit Texas. In the first week of May, Houston received up to 6 inches of rain.

Thunderstorms that hit Austin and San Antonio Monday were so severe, NWS meteorologists issued an urgent warning that people should seek shelter because any person or animal outside at the time would be “severely injured.”

Many East Coast states have also been hit with storms, rain and tornadoes, with several counties in Florida placed on a tornado watch Wednesday.

People in the Sunshine State were warned about hail “up to the size of a ping pong ball” and wind gusts up to 70 mph.

Seasonal changes in spring often bring disruptive weather to the U.S., with the months between April and June usually the most active time for tornadoes.