Reports of nickel size hail and moderate to heavy rain were reported over parts of the area Thursday afternoon as an outbreak of fast moving thunderstorms rumbled across the East Texas and Western Louisiana lakes area. These storms decreased during the evening, but additional development is expected today as the next short wave trough of low pressure swings across the south nudging a cold front toward the area. The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for northern San Augustine County and southwestern Shelby County, as well as southeastern Nacogdoches County at 4 o’clock yesterday until 4:30. Just before 4, meteorologist detected a severe thunderstorm near Bland Lake in San Augustine County—12 miles southeast of Center, moving east at 70 mph with nickel size expected. Our forecast today calls for a 50 percent chanceof more thunderstorms, with the possibility of some being severe this afternoon. The system should clear out of the area by early Saturday making way for nice weekend weather.

The Shelby County and San Augustine County Sheriff’s Department had no reports of damage or emergency situations during the height of the storm outbreak.

Checking with Deep East Texas Electric Co-op, they had one outage during the height of the activity in Nacogdoches County when a tree fell on a power line in the Oak Ridge area affecting some 770 customers. Service was restored within about an hour.