Wildfires raged through western Texas and Oklahoma Thursday while severethunderstorms ravaged eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas. That's the way the weatheroperates this time of year, often extreme with very few days without radicalchange. April is the time of year that the leftovers of winter have an all-outslugfest with the beginnings of summer; that's why it gets so hostile attimes.The next period of stormy weather for the South Central states will occurSaturday night and Sunday. Severe weather is again possible, but probably notas bad as what happened a day ago. This will be more of a large-scale rainevent with embedded strong storms. Still, whenever air masses clash in April,you can never rule out the possibility of destructive winds and tornadoes.
One thing different about this upcoming event is that the water-starvedregion of western Texas will get some rain. Most other storms that have comethrough this region since December have missed entirely. The total rainfall thepast four months in Midland, Texas, has been 0.85 of an inch, while El Paso,Texas, has gotten a measly 0.34 of an inch.
Although there could be heavy thunderstorms in parts of western TexasSaturday night, the rain that fall will be brief. On Sunday, dry, windyconditions will push the fire danger back to high.
Story by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.
