The Weather Blog

Video from Weekend Storms

The first video is from Gregg County, around Longview, of severe weather and flooding. The second video is from Louisiana of some tornado damage from Sunday afternoon.

Amazing Video from San Augustine Flooding Event

Sabine County Flooding

Getting reports of northern Sabine county now beginning to flood. The town of Sexton, which is in the northern tip of the county is impassable. All roads are closed in that area. Things continue getting worse in San Augustine as the water keeps rising. Stay away from these parts of East Texas. Flash flooding kills more people every year than any other severe weather.

Road Closures

In San Augustine, all roads expect for HWY 147 are closed due to flash flooding. Do not attempt to drive to that part of East Texas! We are working on getting more storm reports. Stay tuned!

Flooding Concern

As the rain continues falling across parts of the area, flash flooding is becoming a problem in some communities. We are getting reports of high water rescues going on in San Augustine. Our Rainvision is estimating about 8 inches of rain has fallen in the northern San Augustine county since this morning. We have a reporter heading out to get video for tonight. Also, several communities in Lufkin are dealing with power outages. Remember, to report severe weather email us to weather@ktre.com. More updates to come.

The Storm That Wreaked Havoc !!

The Severe Weather we saw tonight was quite remarkable considering it was one storm that produced all the damage across northwest portions of East Texas.

Typically when we have reports of tornadoes, large hail, or wind damage, it comes from a complex of storms.  Tonight, however, was not the case, as one storm tracked from just east of College Station all the way through Crockett and on up into Rusk, Jacksonville, and then into northern Rusk county.  That one storm was long lived and produced numerous reports of large hail and some wind damage as well.

This is what the storm looked like on our Live Doppler 9 Network just after 8pm on Saturday evening.  This was a very intense storm, which at this time, had produced golf ball size hail in Elkhart, just south of Palestine in Anderson county.  But the storm was far from weakening.

About 30 minutes later, you can see that the storm is just as strong as it was earlier and was then moving through Cherokee county, affecting the cities of Rusk and Jacksonville.  It was in both of those communities that quarter to Ping Pong Ball size hail fell from the storm. 

The storm continued moving off at a rapid clip at 25 mph to the northeast.  Just after 8:45pm, this storm began moving into southwestern Rusk county and into Smith county.  One interesting feature that you see here is the area I have circled on the radar.  If you look closely you can see some shadings of purple.  This is indicative of very large raindrops, perhaps large hail, that was falling from the storm. 

Thankfully, the storm moved out our viewing area and left us with clouds and warm and muggy conditions.  But it didn't go without leaving its mark.

Here is a look at the Storm Reports that this one storm produced as it rolled through Anderson, Cherokee, and Rusk counties.  Each green dot represents large hail reports.  This includes

1.)  Golf ball size hail just 4 miles southeast of Elkhart in Anderson county, south of Palestine.

2.)  Ping Pong ball size hail 4 miles southeast of Jacksonville.

3.)  Quarter Size hail in Rusk, doing some minor damage to vehicles as reported by the Sheriff's Office.

4.)  Quarter Size hail in Palestine.

5.)  Golf ball size hail in Kilgore.

6.)  Wind Damage in New London, in northern parts of Rusk county.  Numerous trees were blown down.

Some storm reports may be added to the list as more reports come in through the late night hours. 

**If you have any reports of Severe Weather, no matter how big or small you think it is, please send us an email at weather@ktre.com and let us know what you experienced in your neighborhood. **

Midwest Flooding

Nacogdoches Azalea Trail

Spring is in the air across East Texas and for many people, it means one thing...walking the Azalea Trail! Nacogdoches is home to Texas's largest azalea garden and it is at 50% bloom. In the next week or two, they expect it to reach 100% bloom. This Friday and Saturday will be great days to get out and enjoy these beautiful flowers. The city of Nacogdoches is hosting several events and you get more information by visiting their website, www.nacogdochesazaleas.com. We would love to see photos of your spring plants. Email them to weather@ktre.com and we will feature some during our newscasts. 

Severe Weather Tuesday: What Happened?

Since last week, we had  been talking about the potential of severe weather for Tuesday. Once the day arrived, all the ingredients were in place for a major severe weather outbreak. A powerful, upper level storm system was heading our way. We had lots of energy in the different levels of the atmosphere. We even had a some daytime heating with temperatures in the lower 80s. Even the Severe Prediction Center was on board when they issued a Particularly Dangerous Situation, PDS, Tornado Watch. So what happened?

My guess is the timing was thrown off. All the computer models had the upper level low moving in during the late afternoon, early evening hours. The reality was the system moved through overnight, during the early morning hours of Wednesday. In other words, the system slowed down. This kept our trigger from happening during peak hours of the day. So all we saw were isolated storms and few severe. In the world of weather, every thing has to coming together in perfect harmony for certain events to happen. This time it didn't. I am personally thankful it did not get as worse as we originally thought and I know for future events, we will be prepared.

Severe Weather Update 8:40 PM

A strong storm is currently moving into Nacogdoches. It is not severe but is producing very heavy rain, lots of lightning and thunder, and gusty winds over 30 mph. We are still under a Tornado Watch so the storm could turn severe at any moment. More updates to come...