Thunderstorm Wind in Cherokee County, Texas

Several trees were downed across the city of Jacksonville.

A weak stationary front extended across East Texas and North Louisiana along the I-20 corridor during the afternoon hours of May 22nd, where a weak surface low drifted east along this boundary during the afternoon and evening. Meanwhile, weak upper level disturbances translated northeast atop this front in the southwest flow aloft, which both enhanced large scale forcing along the front within the moist and unstable air mass in place. As a result, scattered severe thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon through the evening hours along the front, and produced multiple reports of large hail across Rusk and Panola Counties. While these storms diminished by mid-evening with the loss of heating/reduced instability, a line of severe thunderstorms progressed east along the front into East Texas during the predawn hours of May 23rd, driven by a stronger upper level disturbance riding east along the front. Damaging winds and large hail accompanied these storms as they moved through much of Lower East Texas along/south of I-20 through the mid-morning hours, before exiting the area to the east into Western Louisiana.