A cold front moving eastward through North Texas on Friday is expected to once again put the area in the path of severe weather, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
An “enhanced” severe thunderstorm outlook is in effect on Friday for multiple North Texas counties, including Dallas and Tarrant, said Hunter Reeves, a NWS Fort Worth meteorologist. Strong to severe storms could develop in the area between 3-9 p.m. and hail larger than 2 inches is possible, according to the weather service.
“The main hazards are going to be hail and wind,” Reeves said.
Storms may linger in the area behind the cold front overnight, the weather service said.
Lightning-heavy storms moved through the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday, but the bulk of the severe storm activity, including baseball-sized hail, was seen south of Interstate 20. The weather service received information about tornadoes briefly touching down in Central Texas, but there were no reports of damage, Reeves said.
Two children were hospitalized Wednesday evening in Fort Worth after a tree that they were playing near was struck by lightning, according to media reports. Storms on Wednesday also caused delays at DFW International Airport and at Dallas Love Field and outages in Dallas and Fort Worth. Wednesday’s storms also produced pea-sized hail in some parts of Dallas County, the weather service has said.
Temperatures on Friday probably will be in the high 70s to low 80s before 3 p.m. Friday, when storms are forecast to hit areas west of Fort Worth, Reeves said. Storm activity will move eastward toward Dallas throughout late afternoon and evening, he added.
More of the Dallas-Fort Worth area is expected to be impacted by severe storm activity, and golf ball-sized hail is possible for areas near Dallas-Fort Worth, Reeves said.
“For this event, we’re going to have a whole cold front moving from the west into the east, so the metroplex is more likely to be included in some of that severe weather because the orientation of the system that is moving through is different from Wednesday’s storms,” Reeves said.
Following Friday’s storms, temperatures are expected to drop to the mid 50s, with highs in the mid 60s, Reeves said.
Some rain is possible Saturday morning, but storms should “clear out” by the afternoon, according to Reeves.
“And Sunday we should have sunny skies,” Reeves said.
