Cold Front Expected to Trigger Severe Storms Wednesday Morning

Spring officially arrives this Saturday. In East Texas, that usually means the appearance of mosquito hawks and June bugs, blooming dogwoods and azaleas, all that wonderful yellow pollen, and let's not forget the periodic visit of severe storms.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma has issued some guidance concerning a possible severe weather outbreak along some of the Gulf states through Thursday. A rather strong cold front will be bringing us sunshine and cooler temperatures Thursday through Saturday, however, before we get to that nice weather, it looks like we might have to go through some rather strong thunderstorms first.

Photo Credit/NOAA

Scattered showers and thunderstorms have already started moving across parts of the Pineywoods over the past 12 hours and that should increase this evening and overnight. Some of those storms may become severe, but the highest chance of strong to severe storms will happen Wednesday between 6 am and noon. Some of these storms could produce winds gusting above 60 mph, hail up to a half-dollar in size, and an isolated tornado is not out of the question.

The vigorous low pressure associated with the cold front is expected to kick off a potentially dangerous outbreak of severe weather especially in portions of Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi. Cities such as Memphis, Birmingham, Vicksburg and Little Rock are expected to be in the 'bulls-eye' of the highest probabilities of tornadoes by Wednesday afternoon.

Some of the storms could produce heavy downpours, but due to the fast-moving nature of the cells, flooding is not expected to be an issue. Deep East Texas could see anywhere from a half-inch to an inch of rain from the system. If possible, try not to park vehicles under trees. Some branches may be compromised or weakened from the ice storm from last month, and the forecasted strong, gusty winds may cause a few of those limbs to break off.

As always, listen to KICKS 105 for updates and make sure you've downloaded our free KICKS 105 app to have weather alerts sent to your smartphone.