Expect storms at sundown in North Texas, plus chance of severe weather

We could see large hail, damaging winds, and even some isolated tornadoes.

The highest chance of rain and thunderstorms are over Dallas-Fort Worth.

It’s cloudy and calm at the moment, with patches of drizzle moving though warm, wet, and heavy air. And according to the National Weather Service, it should stay like this for most of the day as highs reach for the lower 70s. Dallas’ rain chances today are but 30 percent; Fort Worth’s, 50.

But by 6 p.m., says meteorologist Jamie Gudmestad of the weather service’s Fort Worth office, all that changes as drizzle turns to rain turns into a chance at severe weather, including isolated tornadoes.

“The chance of rain goes up to 100 percent” for North Texas as an upper-level low over the Four Corners heads this way,” she says, bringing with it a dry line that will fire up some big storms ahead of its arrival. Everyone should plan on getting wet between 6 and midnight.

And the low is a slow-mover: Gudmestad says to expect somewhere between and inch and an inch and a half of rain by the time the disturbance clears out Sunday morning.

But with that much-needed rain, warns the meteorologist, there is a slight risk of severe storms — especially as the air mass over North Texas continues to destabilize before the low rumbles through. That means, as always, we could see large hail, damaging winds, and even some isolated tornadoes. When asked which parts of North Texas are more or less likely to see the heavy stuff, Gudmestad said, “Well, over the Metroplex is where we have the highest chance of rain and thunderstorms.”

It should be calmer and cooler tomorrow, as a cold front follows the rain: 58 degrees Sunday, with lows Monday morning scraping the mid-30s.