Timing of Thursday’s storms:

If you have to be out and about today, the morning hours will be better, with only a few scattered showers, but these will become significantly stormier as the day progresses.

The atmosphere is very turbulent today as the center of the low pressure storm burrows into Texas. This has prompted the Storm Prediction Center to upgrade our severe weather threat to 3 out of 5. This is pretty significant for a day in late December, so be prepared for strong to severe storms through the early evening.

Combined with a stronger jet stream, any storm that may strike may have some swirl and we may see an isolated tornado warning or two. Otherwise, storms will bring heavy rain, lightning, and even some hail.

Luckily, this should be a fast-moving system, so most of the storms will have moved east into Louisiana by this evening. We stay mostly dry Friday before another system brings some rain, but nothing heavy for Saturday.