Tornado Threat for East Texas Just Bumped Up, Here’s the Latest

A pair of cold fronts will be pushing through East Texas over the next 48 hours. The first will move across the Pineywoods on Monday afternoon.

Scattered showers and thunderstorms will develop ahead of the front, but a solid squall line of strong to severe storms is expected to quickly push through Deep East Texas throughout the afternoon hours on Monday.

What to Expect in East Texas...and When

Don't be surprised to see a few showers develop across the Lufkin/Nacogdoches and Tyler/Longview areas this morning. However, a line of storms associated with the first cold front should start moving into the Tyler area around lunchtime and across Lufkin/Nacogdoches closer to 3 p.m.

Many of the afternoon storms will bring brief, heavy downpours. A half-inch to an inch of rain may fall in some areas. A few severe storms may also occur.

What About Tornadoes?

Strong, gusty winds will be the biggest threat from this afternoon's storms, however, a few tornadoes embedded within the squall line are not out of the question.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, estimates that there is about a 2% chance of that happening at any given point across the Pineywoods and most of northeast Texas, however, as of 7 a.m. this morning, they have bumped up the chance of tornadoes across the Toledo Bend area.

What About After the Storms

Thankfully, the cold front will move quickly across East Texas and take some of the humidity and warm temperatures with it. Monday night's low temperatures will dip into the low 50s and Tuesday's high will reach 75.

However, the second cold front will push through Tuesday night. By Wednesday, highs will only reach into the 60s with strong northerly winds, and the low for the remainder of the week will be in the 30s and 40s.