Severe Thunderstorm Watch & hail risk through Wednesday evening

Storms have exploded northwest of Houston today with numerous reports of large hail, up to as big as golf ball size or larger. As I write, this large hail is possible near Bryan in the Brazos Valley.

As a result of this, a Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been hoisted for the entire Houston area through 9 PM this evening. The main threat will be between now and 6 PM I think, however. These storms near Bryan-College Station are hauling south and east around 20 to 30 mph, and new storms are trying to blossom out ahead of them.

2:20 PM – Severe-thunderstorm warned storm moving into the BCS area capable of producing golf-ball sized hail, frequent lightning and heavy rainfall.

📍Easterwood Airport
📸 Conner Pierce pic.twitter.com/0kW9NwVew0

— Mia Montgomery (@KBTXMia) May 27, 2020

The main threat from today’s storms is likely to be large hail. Not everyone will see hail, but those that do (most likely along and north of I-10) could see hail to the size of golf balls or even a little larger. The hail threat today is legitimate. A secondary threat will be strong winds, capable of knocking down trees or power lines in spots. A very small tornado threat is there, but it’s not especially high at this time. We’re focused on hail and wind today I think. Heavy rain is also possible from any of these storms.

While the severe threat should fizzle after sunset, we may see additional rounds of showers or even some thunderstorms into later this evening. We’ll update again if things look more significant. But please stay weather aware through this afternoon and evening.