Severe weather is possible Thursday across the Houston metro area, particularly north of Interstate 10, as a large storm system moves across Texas.
Heavy rainfall is likely, along with thunderstorms capable of producing isolated tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail. The National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center has placed much of Southeast and East Texas under a slight to enhanced risk (levels 2 to 3 of 5) of severe weather. A slight risk typically means scattered severe storms are possible, while an enhanced risk often leads to numerous widespread severe storms of varying intensity, according to the weather service.
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It’s been almost a year since the Houston metro area has had an enhanced risk of severe weather. On that day, Jan. 24, several tornadoes had spun up across Southeast Texas, including in Baytown, Deer Park, and Pasadena. With that kind of storm threat returning Thursday, residents should try to stay weather-aware and have multiple ways to receive weather notifications.
Are You Prepared?
Severe thunderstorms could impact the eastern half of Texas tomorrow.
Threats include tornadoes, large hail, damaging winds, heavy rainfall and flash flooding.
Scattered thunderstorms will begin in the morning and will continue as waves of activity throughout the day. We may get some breaks in between when we’ll see a little sunshine along with gusty southeast winds. It’s going to be warm, too, with highs near 70 degrees. Unfortunately, this heat energy will destabilize our atmosphere even more, making it more supportive of the formation of rotating storms.
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“The vertical wind shear is highly supportive of supercells and tornadoes,” said Dan Reilly, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service office for Houston and Galveston. “However, instability is more uncertain and may depend on cloud cover and any sunny breaks.”
The exact location of where these tornadoes could form and their possible tracks are uncertain, but forecast models and radar projections indicate that the storms will move quickly from the southwest toward the northwest and into Louisiana.
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The National Weather Service anticipates issuing a tornado watch for Southeast Texas on Thursday.
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A tornado watch means that weather conditions are favorable or the ingredients are present for tornadoes to develop with the storms.
A tornado warning means a tornado has been spotted either on radar or by a trained weather spotter. A warning means you should take shelter immediately.
While most of these showers and storms will be moving rather quickly, some localized flooding is possible with any storms training over the same area, especially east of the city. We’ll expect widespread rainfall totals of an inch to 2 inches, with some isolated amounts going a little higher. This could help diminish our lingering drought and close our cumulative annual rainfall deficit — and we may even break some daily rainfall records, including:
Houston International Airport: 1.41 inches, set in 1968
Hobby Airport: 1.05 inches, set in 1982
Galveston: 1.4 inches, set in 1921
The thunderstorm will head east by Thursday evening, but the rain won’t wrap up until the weekend. The secondary part of the storm, a cold front, will swing in Friday morning but stall out around the Texas Gulf Coast.
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This will keep our skies cloudy with about a 20% to 30% chance of scattered showers through Sunday. Winds will be gusty Thursday night but calmer on Friday. Temperatures will stay mild and seasonal behind the front with highs in the upper 60s and lows in the upper 50s.
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Hollywood A-listers Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton and Renée Zellweger are hoping to make Texas “the new Hollywood.”
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The stars united for a new ad from the True to Texas initiative to encourage filmmakers to move productions to the state, and lobby state officials for financial incentives to make the move appealing.
McConaughey and Harrelson took inspiration from their “True Detective” characters in the clip, under the direction of the series director, Nic Pizzolatto.
“Hollywood is flat circle, Woody,” McConaughey muses in the clip. “This industry is like somebody’s memory of an industry. I’m talking about a whole new hub for film and television. A renaissance. A rebirth.”
Matthew McConaughey, Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson, starred in an ad encouraging filming in Texas.(Rick Kern/Jacky Godard/Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images/)
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY DITCHED HOLLYWOOD FOR TEXAS, TURNED DOWN $14.5M OFFER AFTER BEING DUBBED ‘ROM-COM DUDE’
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“A small fraction of Texas budget surplus to turn this state into the new Hollywood,” Harrelson later adds.
Quaid, Thornton and Zellweger add information and commentary about the benefits of filming in Texas, and they focus on the positive financial impact on the state to make their case.
Renée Zellweger and Billy Bob Thornton also appeared in the ad, appealing to the Texas state government to boost tax incentives for filming. (Mike Marsland/Alberto E. Rodriguez)
“Texas stories deserve a Texas backdrop. That’s why I teamed up with Dennis Quaid, Woody Harrelson, Billy Bob Thornton and Renée Zellweger for True to Texas. It’s time to bring film and TV productions home!” McConaughey wrote in a post on X sharing the ad.
Quaid shared the ad on his Instagram as well.
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“Filming in Texas isn’t just about showcasing our stunning landscapes—it’s about creating jobs, boosting local economies, and building a thriving industry right here at home,” he wrote in the caption. “I was proud to collaborate with Matthew McConaughey, Woody Harrelson, Billy Bob Thornton, and Renée Zellweger to shine a spotlight on how Texas can lead the way in film production. I was also proud to have the great Nic Pizzolatto direct this spot.”
He added, “Let’s keep the cameras rolling and the economy growing—because everything’s bigger (and better) in Texas!”
Productions like the Taylor Sheridan-created series “Yellowstone” and its spinoffs “1883,” “1923” and “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” starring Quaid, have all filmed in Texas, as well as his latest series, “Landman,” starring Thornton, with its story set in the state’s oil industry.
Last week, the Texas senate announced that it had filed a budget that includes $498 million to revamp the state’s film incentives, “making Texas the movie capital of the world” per the office of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick’s press release. The budget consists of “$48 million in grants for small films and TV commercials, and up to $450 million in new tax credits, including Texas residency requirements for workers.”
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Taylor Sheridan has been leading the Texas production boom with shows like “Yellowstone” and “Landman.”(Emerson Miller/Paramount+)
‘YELLOWSTONE,’ ‘TWISTERS’ SHOW FILMMAKERS WITH NO ‘HIDDEN AGENDA’ CHOOSING HEARTLAND OVER HOLLYWOOD
As Texas’ popularity grows with celebrity support, Hollywood itself has been struggling.
Filming in Los Angeles dropped to a historic low in 2024, down 5.6 percent from the previous year, per a report from FilmLA, the city’s film office, making it the least productive year on their record, second only to 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns. The report cited, “combined effects of runaway production, industry contraction and slower-than-hoped-for post-strike recovery” as the reason for the low numbers.
The devastating fires that broke out in early January have also contributed to worry about the state of production in the city, prompting a petition called “Stay in LA.”
A house burns as the Palisades Fire rages on in Mandeville Canyon, in Los Angeles, California, on January 11, 2025. (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton )
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“We were already deeply worried about the livelihoods of Los Angeles area cast and crew, not to mention the countless small businesses suffering from production moving out of state and overseas. The fires have made a desperate situation worse. We are terrified that the city we love so much may lose its most vital resource: its people. We need a flood of new work to help our beloved city rebuild itself and ensure LA’s future viability as a place where craftspeople, film workers, and businesses thrive,” the organization, started by Alexandra Pechman and Sarah Adina Smith, states on their page.
The petition asks state government leadership to uncap tax incentives for the next three years for productions filming in Los Angeles County and asks studios and streamers to pledge to film 10% more in the city over that same time period. It also praised Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposal to increase California’s own tax incentives for filming to $750 million.
Among those are celebrities like Keanu Reeves, Kevin Bacon, Olivia Wilde and many, many more being added every day, according to Deadline.
Keanu Reeves was one of many celebrities to sign a petition to keep production in Los Angeles.(Dave J Hogan)
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Last month, President Donald Trump appointed Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone and Jon Voight as Special Ambassadors to Hollywood, with the purpose of promoting business in the industry.
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Mel Gibson is one of President Trump’s Hollywood ambassadors, and recently said on “Hannity” that he thinks the situation “can be fixed.”(Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage/Getty Images)
While appearing on “Hannity,” Gibson addressed the issue of work leaving the city, saying, “[People] are going somewhere else, because it’s more cost-effective. There [are] just a lot of prohibitive regulations and things in the way that I think could be lifted. . . . But I think it can be fixed.”
“I know Newsom gave some tax incentives, but maybe not enough, because it’s still not working. There are other things that offset that,” he added later.
Boil water notice issued for Lewisville residents – CBS Texas
Following a 30-inch water line break, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is requiring some Lewisville residents to boil their water before consumption to ensure safety, particularly for children and vulnerable populations.
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HOUSTON — Chance McMillian had 23 points including two free throws with 16 seconds left in overtime as No. 22 Texas Tech won its sixth straight, 82-81 over No. 6 Houston on Saturday night.
Elijah Hawkins scored 17 points and Kerwin Walton added 14 points for Texas Tech (17-4, 8-2 Big 12).
L.J. Cryer scored 22 points, Roberts added 18 points and Milos Uzan had 10 points for Houston (17-4, 9-1), which had won 13 in a row and suffered its first loss at home since Jan. 22, 2023, against Temple, a 33-game streak.
Darrion Williams hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 72 with 30 seconds left in regulation. Houston’s J’Wan Roberts took a shot at the buzzer but it was blocked by Federiko Federiko.
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Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland was ejected with 16:10 remaining in the first half with two straight technical fouls after arguing a flagrant 2 call on JT Toppin. Toppin appeared to kick Houston’s Joseph Tugler in the midsection on a jump pass.
Watch: Texas Tech’s JT Toppin and coach Grant McCasland ejected vs. Houston
After review, Toppin was issued a flagrant 2, and McCasland began arguing the call and had to be held back from the officials several times while he was being escorted off the court.
Takeaways
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders improved to 4-2 in Quad 1 games and stayed in the Big 12 race, moving a game in the loss column behind Arizona and Houston.
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Houston: The Cougars dropped to 3-4 in Quad 1 games. Houston had its 18-game Big 12 winning streak snapped.
Key moment
After McMillian made his free throws, Roberts was called for a travel on the other end with 1.5 seconds left. Roberts stole the inbounds, but his halfcourt heave missed.
Key stat
Texas Tech was 24 of 34 on free throws, and Houston was 18 of 27.
Up next
Houston hosts Oklahoma State on Tuesday night and Texas Tech hosts Baylor the same day.
Tre Johnson, Tramon Mark, Kadin Shedrick guide Longhorns to romp over LSU
Mustang runaway: SMU pounds Stanford at Moody Coliseum in offensive showcase
Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.