Timeline: Severe weather threat Friday night

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HOUSTON — Severe weather is possible across Southeast Texas into Louisiana late Friday with a drop in the temperatures for Saturday. 

It’s too soon to say which parts of our area will get the worst of the weather, if any, but given that this will likely be a nighttime event we’ll all want to make sure we stay alert and keep an eye on the radar.

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Currently we are tracking the worst of the weather to push through Southeast Texas, including Houston, late Friday night into the very early morning hours Saturday. 

Our temps will go from a high of 80 degrees Friday to not even getting out of the 50s on Saturday. Sunday morning we’ll be in the 30s before sunrise before ‘warming up’ to a high of 60.

Let’s break down the potential severe weather situation, image by image:

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We are in a category 3 out of 5 for severe weather.  Which is an Enhanced risk, from the Storm Prediction Center, for severe weather for Friday afternoon, into the overnight hours going into Saturday. 

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What does an Enhanced risk mean? Well we have the potential for longer lasting, strong to severe storms with the potential for several damaging elements.

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These are the primary ingredients for severe weather, and we’ll have some, just not all of them.  Hence we’re in the Enhanced risk.

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The jet stream, that river of air aloft that steams storms around the planet, has it digging down towards western Texas, and rising up in eastern Texas. Which has us almost in the Right Rear Quadrant, which has a higher chance or producing storms with the potential for going severe.

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As we look at a cross section of the atmosphere, we have winds at the surface coming from the south, and winds aloft coming from the southwest; which means they are the winds are turning with height, thereby increasing wind shear.  Which, if you have the right amount of turning, you can get storms to rotate, increasing the chances for possible tornadoes. 

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Now here is the cold front approaching us. At 7 PM, we have light rain across some areas, with the heaviest pushing through Bryan and Hallettsville.

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By 9 PM, the storms are pushing towards the Beltway.  Places like Katy, Spring and even Sugar Land are starting to see heavy rain & get gusty winds.

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Between 9 PM and 11 PM, the worst weather is right over the metro.  Heavy rain could lead to localized street ponding with strong winds, and we could possibly see hail & some embedded tornadoes in that line.

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The storms will wrap up from west to east, with the last of the rain falling over our eastern towns well after midnight.  

With this being our first experience of severe weather for 2020, we might be a little rusty in with what to do, and where to go when severe storms come our way. Make sure to have multiple ways of getting the vital information, such as social media, your tv, and of course, the KHOU11 app.  And if you are out and about, since it is a Friday night, make sure to have multiple ways of getting to safety.  

Check back for more updates, and you can always follow us on Twitter and Facebook, as well as download the KHOU 11 Weather App in your app store.

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