East Texas Tornado Outlook Takes a Dangerous Turn for the Worse
Friday Could Get a Little Scary
Halloween is now a few days in our rearview mirror, but something scarier than goblins, zombies, and vampires could be on the way for Friday, especially for Friday night. A vigorous and complex weather system is expected to fire off severe storms in portions of Deep East Texas, northeast Texas, and north-central Texas. This is not good news for deer hunters who plan on heading out to the cabin on the lease by Friday evening.
First, the Worst News
Anyone that lives near the Interstate 20 corridor from Dallas to the Louisiana border, as well as in the Lufkin/Nacogdoches area should be on high alert Friday afternoon and Friday night. You'll notice the black circle on the map with the series of dashes inside of it. Folks within that area have a heightened probability of seeing a strong to devastating tornado. We're talking about a tornado that could be anywhere from an EF2 to an EF5 on the Fujita Scale.
So, anyone living in Tyler/Longview, Sulphur Springs, Texarkana, and Canton should have emergency plans in place...just in case.
What About Lufkin/Nacogdoches?
You'll notice in that map above that tornadoes are definitely a risk for the Pineywoods, especially by Friday afternoon and Friday night. Plus, the map below shows that Deep East Texas is a target for severe storms that could produce straight-line winds over 60 mph, hail, as well as heavy downpours.
The brown enhanced shaded area encompasses a portion of the Pineywoods such as Cherokee, Rusk, Nacogdoches, Shelby, and portions of Angelina Counties. I wouldn't be surprised if the Storm Prediction Center upgraded a portion of east and northeast Texas into the red (moderate) category by Friday morning.
Salvaging the Weekend
It looks like Friday is going to be a nasty and dangerous mess around these parts. Almost every varsity football game that was scheduled for Friday night has been smartly moved up 24 hours to Thursday.
However, this vigorous storm system should be exiting Deep East Texas by the time the sun rises on Saturday morning. We should expect plenty of sunshine throughout the weekend with highs in the 70s.
Time Change Reminder
This is the weekend for falling back an hour. Saturday night before going to bed remember to set your clocks back an hour. Plus, remember that you can receive breaking weather alerts sent to your smartphone by downloading our free KICKS 105 App and enabling weather alerts.
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