A Tornado Watch has been issued for extreme East-Central and Far Southeast Texas. This watch is in effect until 7 PM although I expect it’ll be cancelled by mid-afternoon for the Texas counties. The watch runs along and east of a Nacogdoches-Livingston-Liberty line. Center, hemphill, Lumberton, and Port Arthur are included in this watch. I expect storms will exit Texas to the east by 3-4 PM. The primary threat will be quarter size hail and localized damaging wind gusts over 60 MPH. A tornado is not out of the question but the risk increases as storms move into Louisiana.

TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 5
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
1150 AM CST THU JAN 21 2016

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF
PARTS OF WESTERN AND CENTRAL LOUISIANA
PARTS OF EAST CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST TEXAS
COASTAL WATERS

* EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING AND EVENING FROM 1150 AM UNTIL
700 PM CST.

* PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE…
A FEW TORNADOES LIKELY
SCATTERED LARGE HAIL AND ISOLATED VERY LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 2
INCHES IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE
SCATTERED DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH POSSIBLE

SUMMARY…SCATTERED-NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO FORM AND
INTENSIFY FROM EAST TEXAS INTO LOUISIANA THROUGH THE AFTERNOON. THE
STRONGEST STORMS WILL POSE A RISK FOR A FEW TORNADOES…IN ADDITION
TO LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.