Tropical Storm Force Winds Could Slam East Texas on Thursday
Wednesday morning, a strong cold front blew into the Pineywoods triggering strong storms that brought heavy downpours and strong wind gusts. Damage was reported in parts of East Texas in some of the stronger storms. According to a post on the Lufkin Police Department's Facebook Page, some residents reported seeing a funnel cloud near Lufkin's City Hall around 9:30 Wednesday morning.
But now, the storms have passed and the Fall-like weather has filtered in. Now, it's nothing but beautiful and nice weather through the weekend...right?
Well, not quite.
Thanks to a tight pressure gradient behind this cold front, very strong winds are expected across much of the Lone Star State. The National Weather Service in Shreveport is expecting the entire Pineywoods area to have winds on Thursday out of the northwest at 10-25 mph sustained with gusts up to 40 mph. These tropical storm force wind gusts may last through the overnight hours on Thursday.
So, yes, we can expect a good dose of sunshine and much cooler temps and much less humidity, and there is no mention of rain through the weekend. However, you may want to secure any Halloween decorations you have out in the yard, or anything else out in the yard, for that matter. You may also want to avoid parking vehicles under any trees since winds this strong are sure to bring down some large branches.
40 mph wind gusts will be rather commonplace from Austin to Houston and back to Deep East Texas. Winds gusting to 45-50 mph are expected from Tyler to Dallas. So, keep the men and women who keep our power, cable and internet connected in your thoughts and prayers. I'm sure it will be a busy next 24-36 hours for them.
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Here's a look at some of the damage in Lufkin caused by the storm earlier today.