Storms to Bring Hail, Strong Winds to Houston

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

November 26,2012; 9:56PM,EST

Locally drenching downpours to locally strong thunderstorms will kick off the week over parts of the South.

Initially, the greatest risk from the storms will be for isolated incidents of large hail. However, as warmth builds over the region and the air turns more humid ahead of an approaching front from the west, storms with damaging wind gusts and even a couple of tornadoes are possible.
Throughout the event, blinding downpours with the potential for urban flooding will be a risk.
As is the case with any thunderstorms, there can be cloud-to-ground lightning strikes with no notice.
Lightning strikes and locally strong winds will bring a risk of sporadic power outages, which may not sit well for Cyber Monday shoppers.
A storm dipping toward the lower Mississippi Valley, before swinging up the Atlantic Seaboard will briefly grab Gulf of Mexico warmth and humidity.

Cities likely to experience thunderstorms include Houston and Austin, Texas; Shreveport and New Orleans, La.; and Biloxi and Jackson, Miss.
There will be scattered showers and thunderstorms around during the day Monday across parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. These storms should not be severe but will contain locally heavy rainfall and gusty winds.
However, during Monday evening, thunderstorms are forecast by AccuWeather.com to become severe across parts of northeastern Texas and southern Arkansas. The remnants of these storms will then drift southeastward Monday night into Tuesday morning toward the central and northwestern Gulf Coast.

While the severe weather potential will be lower Tuesday, there will still be thunderstorms from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. Any of these thunderstorms could contain heavy rainfall.
The storms will affect part of the I-10 and I-20 corridors in the South Central states.
Elsewhere, there is little risk of new power outages across the nation on Monday.
Any non-flooding rain and non-severe thunderstorms would be welcomed in the South Central states and in the Southeast as rainfall deficits are mounting in the region.
For example, parts of the Houston area have received only a little over an inch of rain since Oct. 1. The normal rainfall for the period is about 9.50 inches.

Rainfall with the storm system is likely to be rather spotty upon reaching the southern Atlantic Seaboard Tuesday with the storm forecast by AccuWeather.com to track over the mid-Atlantic. However, the potential for a locally strong thunderstorm will also shift in that direction.