The threat of severe storms over San Antonio, and South Central Texas overall, is ramping up quickly. In the latest from the National Weather Service, strong storms and flash flooding are most likely to hit the Alamo City on Sunday, March 12, after several days of rain clouds.
Storms began to roll in over South Central Texas Thursday. But days of doom and gloom are in the forecast as clouds linger over the entire weekend and well into next week. Now, forecasters say this continued dousing could lead to severe storms and flash flooding in San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country.
“This yields to the risk of some isolated to scattered severe thunderstorms, with a best focus along/north of the I-35 and Highway 90 corridor… Rainfall rates could become intense enough within these storms at times where an isolated risk for flash flooding will also exist,” the NWS Austin-San Antonio office warns for Sunday, noting severe storms throughout the weekend could hit north of the region.
At the tail end of the weekend, the Texas Hill Country all the way into the northern half of San Antonio could see some severe storms. The National Weather Service defines a severe storm as any event that produces hail 1 inch or greater in diameter or wind that’s 58 mph or stronger. Winds are considered “whole gale” at that speed and can cause “considerable structural & vegetative damage, especially no roofs.”
In an outlook sent out Wednesday, the national forecaster predicted the Texas Hill Country and upper half of San Antonio has a 15% to 29% chance of seeing severe storms develop Sunday. When it comes to excessive rainfall, San Antonio and Austin both have at a marginal risk of seeing flash flooding that day.