Houston’s Christmas forecast calls for warm weather, heavy rains, possibly severe storms

We dealt with several severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches, but thankfully the worst of the weather stayed well to the north of our viewing area.

The threat of severe weather prompted the Montgomery Zoo to cancel their Christmas Lights Festival Wednesday night.

The tornado watch – which means conditions are right for a tornado – is in effect until 9 p.m.

The area of enhanced risk – the bull’s eye for the storms – covers the western half of Tennessee; northern MS; much of northern Alabama; eastern Arkansas; parts of northern Louisiana; western Kentucky; southeast Missouri, and the southern tip of IL, according to the Storm Prediction Center’s outlook for Wednesday.

The National Weather Service had forecast severe weather, mainly with a 2-8 pm time frame, but storms fired off significantly earlier than expected. We are likely to see showers and thunderstorms throughout the day. More rain should head in for Christmas Day, but lower chances are expected this weekend.

The National Weather Service confirmed three EF1 tornadoes in southwest Louisiana on Monday.

Christmas morning, temperatures will begin in the upper 20s and warm to 40 degrees by afternoon with partly sunny skies.