3:45PM Update:
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for Lea county New Mexico and Gaines and Dawson counties of the South Plains until 11PM Central Time. Storms are building across southeastern New Mexico and moving in a southeastern direction. The main threats for these storms will be large hail and strong damaging wind. Below are graphics showing the counties under the watch highlighted in green.
You can watch all the storms with our live streaming radar below.
Just a few showers and storms are expected this morning across our area. The bulk of the heavy precipitation that moved through Lubbock around 1:00-2:00 AM is well east of the area. If you are planning on traveling through North Texas or southern Oklahoma you may have some travel problems. The great news is that the entire region received beneficial rainfall overnight. Here are some 24-hour rainfall totals:
West Texas Mesonet RainfallYou can track the morning convection on our Streaming Radar:
Live streaming by UstreamA few locations experienced some severe weather late last night. A brief tornado was reported by storm chasers a few miles south of Whiteface. Large hail, the size of golf balls and tennis balls, and wind gusts around 50-70mph were also reported in eastern New Mexico and the western South Plains. The picture below shows storm reports across the area.
WEDNESDAY: We should see a break in the precip and cloud cover by noon today. Expect clouds and sun with temperatures warming up to around 90 degrees. A few storms may develop this evening, especially on the caprock. Morning convection will stabalize the atmosphere and will make today's forecast tricky. Winds should turn more south/southeasterly this afternoon and help destabalize the atmosphere. Dew points should warm into the low 60s and help instability values increase. Another problem with storm development will depend if the cap breaks. Upper-level support will be weak and may limit storms this evening. For now, 30% chance of isolated to scattered thunderstorms late this afternoon and evening. A few storms may be strong or severe. Hail and damaging wind gusts are the primary threats.
LONG TERM: Each afternoon there will be a slight chance for thunderstorms. Thursday isn't looking like a very good chance for us. Precipitation chances my be better for us on Friday. Upper-level dynamics look more favorable for storm development across the South Plains Friday afternoon and evening. Storm chances may linger into the weekend as well. I would not change any plans through the weekend, but be weather aware for p.m. thunderstorms.
It looks like we will dry out next week. Temperatures should warm back up into the mid 90s.
Have a great day! Rudy will have the latest here and tonight on the News at Nine.
-Chase
