Line of thunderstorms moving down into Houston, should push to the coast tonight

In brief: Storms firing to the north and west of Houston will sag into the city this evening and down to the coast by around midnight. This system should also weaken with the loss of daytime heating, so the severe threat is diminishing. But it’s not completely gone yet.

If you live along, or south of Interstate 10 you may be wondering what the big deal is with storm forecasts today. So far the majority of the activity has taken place in the northern half of the Houston metro area. Some locations just north of Conroe have picked up in excess of 6 inches of rain, and areas near Kingwood have recorded upward of 4 inches. There also has been a fair amount of hail, some of it quarter-sized, within the stronger thunderstorms.

As of 6:45 pm CT two things are changing. The first is good news. The threat for severe weather, particularly hail and damaging winds is fading. That does not mean these storms cannot produce severe weather this evening, it just means that their ability to do so is declining. The second change is that, ahead of a cool front, the threat of showers and thunderstorms is now moving into central Houston and should reach the coast between 10 pm and midnight. Again, we expect the line of storms to weaken as it moves toward the coast.

So for areas that have been inundated with storms today, the finish line is sight. Things should clear out in northern areas over the next couple of hours. For areas that have seen nothing so far today, but may have heard the distant sound of thunder, showers and perhaps some stronger thunderstorms are inbound this evening. Closer to the coast I think rain totals will be hit or miss, but most of the region should see some rainfall between now and Saturday morning.

Saturday and Sunday both look like pleasant late spring days, with drier air and highs in the vicinity of 80 degrees.