Severe Storm Chances Continue Wednesday for Gulf Coast

14 Apr 2021, 2:00 pm

Severe Outlook

Severe storms will be possible at times throughout the day Wednesday along the Gulf Coast. A stalled front boundary will promote storm development while several mid-level disturbances spin through the region Wednesday morning through Thursday morning. This could lead to several rounds of strong and damaging storms.

Large hail, some over the size of a ping-pong ball, fell early Wednesday morning in Texas, with hail up to quarter size in Louisiana.

Severe Risks through Thursday morning

The threat for tornadoes is on the lower end, but an isolated tornado or two will be possible from Galveston Bay in Texas through Vermillion Bay in Louisiana. This includes a section of the I-10 corridor.

Hail is the primary concern for storms that form both in the morning and afternoon across Texas and the Red River Valley. The hail risk is expected to be highest in the slight risk region near the Sabine River.

Damaging wind gusts will also be a heightened concern in the slight risk region along the Sabine River. Down trees and powerlines are possible, but if you live in the region you may consider securing any lose objects such as patio furniture.

Forecast

The first round of storms brought large hail and damaging wind gusts to Texas and Louisiana. Another round from storms over TX/OK will move in through the morning hours Wednesday with an elevated risk for large hail.

As these storms move east through the morning the threat for damaging winds will likely increase, but large hail will still be possible along with an isolated tornado.

The second round of severe storms is expected to form as a small area of rotation (weak mid-level low) moves through the region late in the evening through early Thursday. This threat appears to be more limited in the area threatened, but will still pose a threat for large hail.

WeatherNation will keep you updated with the latest warnings and forecast through our livestream and broadcast.

About the author

Meredith Garofalo

Meredith is a Certified Broadcast Meteorologist as designated by the American Meteorological Society. She was born and raised in Cleveland but has worked from coast to coast covering almost every type of weather. Meredith is a weather, space, and STEM journalist and has been live out in the field during destructive tropical storms on the Gulf Coast of Florida, raging wildfires in Southern Cali... Load Morefornia, and covered the wreckage from tornadoes in the Great Plains. In 2009, she reported on the damaging hail storm during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and in 2017, the historic California winter storms that produced record rain totals and devastating flash flooding. Prior to joining WeatherNation, Meredith worked at KEYT/KKFX in Santa Barbara, CA, KOTA-TV in Rapid City, SD, WWSB-TV in Sarasota, FL, and began her career as an intern at WGN-TV in Chicago. She was Santa Barbara's "Favorite Weathercaster of the Year" in 2016 and the Community Partner of the Year in 2017 for her volunteer work with Make-A-Wish Tri-Counties and awarded with the 2018 Valparaiso University Alumni Association First Decade Achievement Award. Meredith is the current chair of the American Meteorological Society's Station Scientist Committee, which focuses on raising greater awareness & outreach when it comes to science education for viewers. She's also an accomplished journalist, producing weather and science stories including rocket launches at Vandenberg Air Force Base and the new GOES-16 satellite and it's impacts on weather forecasting. Meredith was personally invited by NASA's Johnson Space Center to interview astronauts on the International Space Station and was the only meteorologist in the nation to do an exclusive report accompanying the GOES-West satellite from Colorado to Florida, reporting on and covering it's launch in 2018. Meredith's also worked on features that took her paragliding along the coast, white water rafting in Northern California, learning to surf in the Pacific Ocean, and how to be an aerial photographer while flying a single engine plane! Say hi on Facebook, Twitter, & LinkedIn!