AUSTIN (KXAN) — The West Texas dryline combined with the first in a series of upper level storm systems will bring a chance of rain, thunderstorms, and even some isolated severe weather to Central Texas from early Friday through the weekend.
Only a few isolated showers or thunderstorms are forecast overnight, and mainly in the Hill Country, but there will be a a 40% chance across the area Friday. Rain chances will drop for your outdoor plans Saturday, but increase dramatically by early Sunday as a storm system moves across the state. A slight risk of severe storms will be in place from Saturday night into Sunday in association with those storms.
The first upper level low pressure system will not be the last. In fact, a series of disturbances are forecast to continue moving across Texas for the next week or longer, keeping chances for rain or thunderstorms in the forecast every day into early May.
Storms firing well west of our area today have the potential to hold together long enough to clip our northwest counties overnight into Friday morning. If these storms can survive the trek, there is a low chance they’re strong to severe.
There is another low chance of strong to severe storms Friday morning and afternoon, although, most activity looks to be in the form of harmless showers.
The highest risk of severe weather comes late Saturday night into Sunday morning. There is a slight chance (2 out of 5) of severe storms in the Hill Country, with a lower risk (1 out of 5) of severe storms along and east of the I-35 corridor.
Rain totals are likely to be anywhere from 0.25″ to 1.5″ between Friday and Sunday. Some model indicate 2″ to 5″ of rain could fall over parts of the KXAN viewing area over the next week, but official National Weather Service projections are on the order of 1.5″ to 2.5″.
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