Heavy rainfall, high winds and hail are forecast in the Greater Houston region until at least late Friday night, as forecasters warned that the weather models bear a resemblance to the 2024 derecho that ripped through southeast Texas with winds of 80 to 100 mph.
George Bush Intercontinental Airport grounded flights around 1 p.m. as severe thunderstorms pummeled Katy and Kingwood.
Space City Weather predicted flash flooding in some areas.
“From now until about 5 p.m., the majority of activity should be clustered along and north of Interstate 10, but that certainly does not preclude thunderstorms developing in the southern half of the region,” meteorologist Eric Berger of Space City Weather reported around 1 p.m. Friday. “Unfortunately, we expect that the majority of the region is likely to see activity during the evening commute as the storms spread, making for a messy time on freeways. If you can leave earlier today, that’s probably for the best.”
Concerns include heavy rainfall with potential flooding, damaging winds and quarter-sized hail. Secure anything that can blow away and stay off the roads when possible, experts advise. The threat of damaging winds is the highest so far this spring, Berger wrote on the Space City Weather website.
“Tornadoes are also possible but the threat is on the lower end of the scale,” he said. The storms are expected to clear mid-morning Saturday, with the exception of some lingering showers south of Houston, and sunshine and low humidity could return Saturday afternoon.
We’ll continue monitoring this story and will update as more information becomes available.
