Heavy rainfall and strong-to-severe thunderstorms prompts a First Alert Weather Day for Thursday

DEEP EAST TEXAS (KTRE) - Thursday is a First Alert Weather Day with a 70% chance of strong-to-severe thunderstorms developing in the early-to-mid-afternoon hours. Highs will be in the middle 70′s with gusty, southerly winds of 15 to 20 mph.

We will likely have two waves or rounds of thunderstorms that will impact our region. The first wave will be in the mid-afternoon hours as scattered thunderstorms develop and push through the Piney Woods. Not everyone will get on this round, but the storms that do form will be strong and will contain locally heavy downpours. A second and more widespread round of heavy thunderstorms will then arrive late Thursday night, in the late evening to midnight time frame, in association with a strong cold front for the middle of March.

With a low-end threat for severe weather on Thursday afternoon and Thursday night, damaging winds are the main threat, with a lesser threat for large hail and isolated tornadoes.

In addition to the severe potential, locally heavy rainfall will also accompany this frontal passage.

Rainfall amounts look to average around one-to-two inches, with isolated, higher amounts possible given the ample moisture this cold front will have to work with.

The cold front blowing into the Piney Woods for St. Patrick’s Day this Friday will have some cold air associated with it. There will be some lingering clouds and a few showers in the morning before the rain chances dwindle by Friday afternoon. The bigger story, though, will be the blustery north winds and chilly temperatures invading the state to close out the week. Highs will be in the lower 50′s on St. Patrick’s Day under those cloudy skies and brisk northerly winds.

This will set the stage for an unseasonably chilly weekend in which we will have wake-up temperatures in the middle 30′s with highs only reaching the middle 50′s. These cold mornings may also come with some patchy frost.

If you have done some spring planting, you may want to protect the tender vegetation that may be sensitive to the cold since some patchy frost may be possible this weekend in the late night, early morning hours.

After a dry weekend under mostly cloudy skies, another disturbance looks to bring back some modest rain chances early next week as the chilly weather looks to stick around for several days to come.

To stay on top of the weather conditions in your neighborhood, make sure you download and frequent our KTRE First Alert weather mobile application. It gives you access to our First Alert forecast, severe weather alerts, interactive radar, and featured video updates. It is weather on the go, when you want it, at your convenience, right in the palm of your hand.

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