Storms could rain (and hail) on North Texas St. Patrick's Day parades Saturday

North Texas partygoers should hope for a little extra luck of the Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

The National Weather Service's Fort Worth office forecasts a 30 percent chance of severe thunderstorms that could bring large hail and damaging winds to the region on Saturday.

However, "Any storms we do get are going to be isolated in nature, not a widespread rainfall," said Juan Hernandez, a meteorologist with the weather service.

Hernandez said a weather system moving into the area Saturday afternoon brings the weekend's first threat of storms. On Sunday, a cold front is projected to blow through the region, potentially bringing more widespread severe weather.

"There's not as much confidence in the threat on Sunday, but if we do see storms on Sunday, there's more of a widespread threat of large hail," he said.

Any hail is projected to be 1 to 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

Any rain this weekend probably won't dampen the region enough to cancel the ongoing fire weather threat, Hernandez said.

Stephen English: 817-390-7330, @sbenglish74

This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 8:37 AM with the headline "Storms could rain (and hail) on North Texas St. Patrick's Day parades Saturday."