A number of extreme thunderstorm warnings have been issued throughout West Texas on Tuesday as a unstable climate system introduced 60 mph wind gusts and hail to among the area’s most storm-prone counties — one other signal that the 2026 extreme season is operating properly above common.
Warnings firing by way of the morning
The Nationwide Climate Service in Midland/Odessa issued a collection of warnings for central Pecos County, north central Brewster County, and northwestern Terrell County starting earlier than daybreak and persevering with by way of mid-morning. Radar-indicated storms have been shifting east at 20 to 35 mph, with the NWS warning that hail as much as one inch in diameter and wind gusts reaching 60 mph have been possible.
“Torrential rainfall is going on with these storms and will result in flash flooding,” the company mentioned in a single bulletin. “Don’t drive your car by way of flooded roadways.”
A hall primed for hazard
West Texas’s Trans-Pecos area — encompassing Huge Bend nation and the sparsely populated stretches south of Fort Stockton — is not any stranger to violent convection.
Pecos County alone has a documented historical past of supercell exercise; a Could 2024 occasion introduced hail as much as 4 inches huge and wind gusts estimated at 100 mph to the identical hall.
The Storm Prediction Middle’s Day 1 outlook for at present flagged west and southwest Texas for giant hail, damaging winds, and a few twister potentialities this afternoon and night, with a floor low deepening close to Huge Bend driving the risk.
Broader season context
The aggression of at present’s exercise suits a sample that has outlined 2026. By mid-April, the NWS Chicago forecast space alone had already logged 128 extreme thunderstorm and twister warnings — a file excessive by way of that date — and recorded at the very least 20 tornadoes. Nationally, showers and thunderstorms are forecast to persist from Texas by way of the Northeast by way of at the very least Tuesday, with the NWS nationwide outlook warning of flash flooding potential throughout the central Gulf Coast into the Appalachians alongside at present’s Texas extreme risk.
Residents within the warned counties have been suggested to maneuver to an inside room on the bottom ground of a sturdy constructing and keep away from home windows. These close to low-water crossings have been urged to show round quite than try and cross flooded roads — a reminder that in West Texas, the place storms can dump heavy rain onto baked, impermeable soil, water rises quick.
