RADAR: Strong storms sweep through central Texas

AUSTIN, Texas – We have enjoyed phenomenal dry weather for the past few days, but things will change quite a bit during the week as the chance of rain comes back up.

When bad weather hits, check back here for live updates:

11:30 p.m. – A flash flood warning was issued for parts of Hays County, including Wimberley, through 2:30 a.m.

11:15 pm – A lightning flood warning is in place in Mason County until 2:15 AM

9:40 pm – According to Oncor, around 7,500 customers in Williamson County are without power. Austin Energy reports outages for approximately 1,200 customers.

8:45 pm – A flood warning was issued for Counties Travis and Williamson until 11:45 p.m., with minor flooding in north Travis and south Williamson possible.

8:30 p.m. – A lightning flood warning is in place in Mason County until 11:30 PM

8:25 pm – A severe thunderstorm warning for Williamson County has been canceled.

7:45 pm – A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for Williamson County until 8:45 p.m.

There will be two upper tier systems approaching the Lone Star State this week. This will coincide with a deep tropical air mass and possibly bring the highest amounts of rainfall that we have seen all month.

The first system is moving in from the Four Corners region and will bring our first round of showers and thunderstorms on Tuesday. The Storm Prediction Center placed much of central Texas at “marginal” risk for major storms on Tuesday. The main concerns will be heavy rainfall, strong gusts between 30 and 40 mph, and hail.

Isolated showers and storms will develop on Tuesday afternoon, but computer models show a series of heavy showers and storms that will continue through Tuesday night. Rain showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue until Wednesday.

High-resolution forecast models have started to draw a strong storm line through the Hill Country from around 9:00 p.m. These storms are expected to move further east during the night hours.

Residents along the Interstate 35 corridor, including Austin, can expect most of the storms to hit by around midnight.

Storms will sweep through our eastern counties at around 2am early Wednesday morning

Tuesday night won’t be the only time central Texas has heavy rains. Another disruption of the upper level moves in at the end of the work week and brings with it the potential for isolated to widespread showers and storms.

The second system is approaching on Thursday and brings the risk of extra laps of heavy rain and storms over the weekend. This will be a concern for the first weekend of the ACL Music Festival.

We still need to iron out the exact timing for the multiple rains and storms as we get closer, but the total rainfall totals continue to trend upwards, with 2-3 inches now possible for a good portion of central Texas. Isolated quantities can exceed 4 inches.

We need the soothing rain after a very dry September, but we also need to watch out for flooding, especially late in the week when the dry soil becomes more soaked.

The forecast for this weekend can still change, but for the first weekend of the festival we expect a bit of wet weather from now on. The forecast could get a little drier through Sunday, but both Friday and Saturday look pretty wet.

The KVUE Storm team will continue to closely monitor this evolving forecast. In the meantime, the advanced forecast can be found below: