Tornadoes, damaging winds and flash floods are all possible with Wednesday’s storms
Severe storms packing damaging winds, a few “spin-up tornadoes” and enough rain to cause flash flooding could arrive for the Wednesday morning commute.
The National Weather Service is projecting a broken line of storms to move through the Dallas-Fort Worth area some time between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. Wednesday. But you should start paying attention as early as 6 a.m.
“I think damaging winds and a brief tornado will be the greatest threats,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop.
When the storms arrive, they’re likely to dump up to 2 inches of rain.
“I think localized flooding will be the greatest threat for most folks,” Bishop said.
The Tarrant Regional Water District has been releasing water from all of four of its reservoirs since last week’s storms. It has kept lakeside residents informed with its flood protection blog that updates several times a day.
With the forecast being so unpredictable, TRWD will be watching the storms closely, said Rachel Ickert, TRWD’s water resource engineering director.
“We’re still worried,” Ickert said. “It won’t take much rain to cause some issues with how saturated everything is right now.”
While the rainfall totals are expected to stay around 2 inches or less, TRWD officials continue to be concerned about higher amounts.
“It’s those isolated areas where you get 4-inch rainfalls that have us concerned,” Ickert said. “It just really depends on how everything moves through.”
The Storm Prediction Center has DFW under a slight risk (2 on a scale of 5) for severe storms but the area just south of the Metroplex is under an enhanced risk (3 on a scale of 5). The Storm Prediction Center lists a 30 percent chance of damaging winds and hail and a 5 percent chance of a tornado.
For Tuesday, the bullseye is on the Texas Panhandle and Amarillo, which is under a moderate risk for severe storms (4 on a scale of 5). Then those storms will start moving east late Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
Severe storms were already firing up Tuesday afternoon with large hail with tornado warnings being issued near the top of the Panhandle.
Low rain chances continue for the rest of the week but go back up to 50 percent on Saturday.
This story was originally published May 7, 2019 at 11:53 AM.