A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued for Tarrant County and several surrounding counties until 2 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
The severe thunderstorm watch was also issued for Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Delta, Denton, Fannin, Grayson, Hopkins, Hunt, Kaufman, Lamar, Parker, Rains, Rockwall, Van Zandt & Wise counties.A tornado watch for counties northwest of Tarrant County was canceled at about 7:15 p.m. Friday. Earlier Friday, meteorologist Ted Ryan said Dallas-Fort Worth would likely to fall under a severe storm warning."We have a good chance of being under some sort of watch later today," he said.Occasional drizzle and light rain fell on Dallas-Fort Worth throughout Friday morning.Thunderstorms could form later Friday and bring straight-line winds and hail across the area, weather service meteorologist Nick Hampshire said Friday morning.There is at least a 60 percent chance of rain for much of North Texas through Friday evening. The temperature had climbed to 73 degrees at 4 p.m.The rain should further help ease dry conditions in Dallas-Fort Worth, which emerged from a drought for the first time since July after last week’s unprecedented 4-plus inches of winter rainfall.A cold front is trailing the rain and should arrive in Tarrant County after midnight, bringing cooler weekend temperatures, Hampshire said. The highs Saturday will likely be in the 60s, he said. Sunday will be cooler with highs in the 50s, and Monday's low should be in the upper 30s. However, a freeze is not expected.“It’s a cold front, but not a really strong one for February,” Hampshire said.Alex Branch, 817-390-7689, Twitter: @albranch1
