We knew that the day could be big for severe weather across Central Texas with everything coming together. There was a cold front to our north that moved south into a warm and juicy air mass that was in place and it was only a matter of time before storms erupted. A Tornado Watch was issued around noon and this is when I headed north to Hillsboro.

Dane Harrison Midlothian

While watching the cumulus clouds tower up, you could tell the cap was holding strong early in the afternoon. To my northeast towards Waxahachie, a storm was moving southeast and had a nice rotation. I headed up to Ellis county as a tornado warning was issued. The storm produced a brief tornado near Midlothian and later produced more funnels near Corsicana. I was about 10 minutes too late to see the twister but watched a beautiful wall cloudy move southeast. Click here to see that video!

I dropped south back to Hillsboro as storms started firing farther west along the cold front. In Hillsboro, there was a lot of scud going into the storm which can be mistaken for a wall cloud. However, it was not rotating. Eventually it did take on a lowering and wall cloud that moved towards Hubbard. Thankfully, no tornadoes came out of it.

Mike Andrews south of Valley Mills

More storms fired in Bosque county and these were the ones that moved into Waco. Both cells had lowerings and wall clouds but never produced a tornado. Why? We think the main reason is the lack of shear, or turning of winds, in the lower levels. You need strong winds blowing into the storms and we did not have that. Even though the whole storm was rotating, it was mainly in the mid and upper levels. This may the storms look very nasty but it looked worse than it really was.

We did have several nice hail cores with numerous hail reports up to golf ball size or larger. Once core passed west of Waco and hit the lake area hard. The other passed east of town down Hwy 6 towards Riesel. Eventually the cells merged together and dumped lots of hail in Falls county along Hwy 77. This is where my chase ended and I made it back to the station around midnight.

Check out our viewer photos and more by check out our Facebook page….www.facebook.com/FirstAlert25WX — First Alert 25 Meteorologist Conley Isom

We did not have all the ingredients together for storms on Wednesday. All the action stayed well north in parts of Oklahoma. However, Thursday could be a different story. A weak cold front will stall out to our north and as the atmosphere heats up by the afternoon, scattered storms are expected to fire. They will quickly turn severe with large hail and gusty winds the main threats. A tornado cannot be ruled out given the turning in the atmosphere which will lead to rotating thunderstorms. One thing to keep in mind is the rain will be scattered so not everyone will see it.

After Thursday, high pressure builds in for the weekend leading to warm and humid weather for a while. Also, with June 1st approaching, that begins the start of hurricane season. The official NOAA forecast comes next week and all signs point to a very active hurricane season. I will have more on that in the coming week. — First Alert Meteorologist Conley Isom

Severe Risk from SPC

The weather continues to be very active across Central Texas but it is May so we would expect it to be so. Our next strong storm system will be moving into the Plains by Wednesday and could lead to severe weather. Right now, a moderate risk for severe weather is from the DFW area and northward into Oklahoma. A slight risk is in place from Waco north. A dry line will set up west of us by the afternoon and as the atmosphere heats up, it will become very unstable. Storms will fire along and ahead of the dry line and will quickly turn severe. Large hail, gusty winds, and isolated tornadoes could all occur. The greatest threat will exist to our north but we will be watching it closely.

One thing that might keep us from seeing the storms will be what happens overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. We may see a complex of storms in the Texas Panhandle form Tuesday night and roll southeast towards us by morning. If that happens, the air would stabilize behind the complex and make it harder for storms Wednesday afternoon to form. So there is still some uncertainty about this event but I encourage to keep tabs on the weather for the next day or two. — First Alert Meteorologist Conley Isom

Warm and windy weather is on tap this week for Central Texas. On Monday, we will see temperatures climb close to 90 degrees in the afternoon with a strong, south wind gusting up to 40 mph. As a friend of mine would say, it will be good kite flying weather! We are also tracking a dry line that will take shape to our west from San Angelo to Abilene. This area could see a few severe storms develop but our current thinking is that most of the activity will stay away from Waco/Temple/Killeen. However, we cannot rule out the chance for a storm to make it into our northwestern counties from San Saba to Hamilton. Below is a video update from Sunday evening talking about the chance for severe weather. It could be a historic day in Oklahoma and Kansas with long lived tornadoes. — First Alert Meteorologist Conley Isom

As we continue through severe weather season, one question I am always asked about is what exactly is the “cap” we refer to. It is a layer of warm air higher up in the atmosphere that acts like a lid. When clouds bubble up, they run into this cap and prevents it from growing into a thunderstorm. There are several ways to break the cap as follows:

• Surface temperatures warm to a certain level which will weaken the cap
• Strong forcing from a cold front or upper air disturbance

We have already seen a few times this year where all the ingredients are in place for severe weather, but nothing happens because the cap was too strong. You do need a little bit of a cap if you want severe weather. Ideally, this would build up the energy in the atmosphere and when the cap breaks, storms would go severe quickly. Watch during the month of May when we have storm systems head our way and see if the cap wins. When it loses, that is when we will see our worst weather. — First Alert Meteorologist Conley Isom

Severe Risk for Friday

Once again, we are tracking the threat for severe weather across parts of Central Texas Friday afternoon and Saturday. A dry line will move eastward Friday morning and then stall somewhere along I-35. As daytime heating kicks in, we should see storms develop along and east of the dry line. So the best chance for severe weather on Friday is from the Brazos Valley north along I-45. Waco, Temple, and Killeen and places west of I-35 will likely miss out. The main threats will be large hail and gusty winds.

On Saturday, the dry line backs up to the west as an upper level disturbance arrives and another round of storms is expected to develop. This time more of the area could see the storms. Large hail, gusty winds, and isolated tornadoes are all possible. Remember, if you see severe weather happen, email us your photos to weatherpics@kxxv.com. — First Alert Meteorologist Conley Isom

Red are tornado, green are hail, and blue is wind damage.

The start of this year’s severe weather season was delayed but mother nature has been making up for it quickly. Just in the past week we have seen tornado outbreaks in the Texas Panhandle and in Mississippi. Even here in Central Texas, we saw lots of hail and wind damage. The image above shows all the severe weather reports across Texas through April 25th. There have been a total of 247 reports with 32 tornado, 134 hail reports, and 81 wind reports. These numbers will like be going up over the coming weeks as we head into the peak of the severe weather season.

Quick reminder that you can send us your storm photos to weatherpics@kxxv.com. We will show as many as we can on air and post them on the weather page, as well as our Facebook page. — First Alert Meteorologist Conley Isom

The following images are courtesy of the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. –First Alert Meteorologist Conley Isom