Keep the umbrella handy, more rain on Thursday & Friday

SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Showers and thunderstorms have returned to the ArkLaTex on Wednesday.  The rain will decrease Wednesday night, but will likely return on both Thursday and Friday.  While we will hear some thunder, severe weather is looking unlikely.

Storm timing:  Showers and thunderstorms have been slowly moving across Texas and Oklahoma Tuesday night and are moving through our area today.  Yesterday, we saw a few storms reach severe limits with some large hail and gusty winds.  The chance of seeing the same today is low, but not zero.  SPC indicates that there is a low-end marginal risk of severe weather, meaning that any issues should be isolated. 

Our current storms will likely move out of the ArkLaTex by early Wednesday evening.  We will see a slight chance for a shower on Wednesday night.  Scattered showers and thunderstorms will increase on Thursday and will be most widespread over the northern half of the area Thursday afternoon and early evening.  This same cycle will repeat once again on Thursday night and Friday. Once again, severe weather will remain unlikely.   

How much rain?  Our biggest concern from the expected storms could be flooding.  We will see big variations in rainfall totals from now through Friday.  Some locations will see very little rain, while others could see totals of two to four inches. Hi-res models show that it’s possible that these areas of heavy rain could occur anywhere in our area. 

Warm despite the rain:  Temperatures on Thursday will still be a little above normal despite the expected rain.  Lows Wednesday morning will return to the low to middle 60s.  Daytime highs will likely return to the low 80s.

Long-range outlook: Your 10-day forecast shows that once the threat of rain ends on Friday, we will see a dry and much warmer weekend.   Highs will begin the period in the low 80s and warm to the upper 80s to near 90 degrees by the end of the weekend.  They will then ease back into the low to middle 80s next week.  Lows most nights will remain in the 60s.  Our next chance of showers and thunderstorms will return during the middle of next week.  These storms will probably bring our next best chance of severe weather.  More on that in my Weather Worries article later today.