B

Although the calendar says March 1, the weather in the Lakeway Area has the distinct hint of late spring.

According to the National Weather Service in Morristown, multiple rounds of thunderstorms and heavy rains are likely the rest of this week, including the possibility of some severe storms. The first round will be tonight into Thursday, and the second round will come on Friday as a strong system swings through.

Locally heavy rainfalls of 2 to 3 inches are possible with these storms, with the Lakeway Area forecast to receive an inch to 1 ½ inches. The heaviest rainfall is expected tonight into Thursday with another round of storms expected Friday. Add to this the likelihood of strong winds in the Appalachian Mountains and foothills Friday afternoon and evening.

David Hotz, meteorologist at the National Weather Service, explained about the showers and winds coming into the Lakeway Area.

“We’re looking at showers moving into the area late tonight, early tomorrow morning,” Hotz said. “We’ll watch this for the next 24 hours. We’ll have a mild day Thursday with temperatures into the 60s.”

Hotz is forecasting a windy day, along with showers Friday.

“Friday will be a very windy day with winds 20 to 40 mph, gusty around 50 mph,” Hotz said. “It will be kind of like we had last week. We do have another chance at another round of storms Friday afternoon. Some of those could be severe. There is an isolated chance of a tornado across East Tennessee.”

Hotz also took time to talk about wind shears that come off mountains onto a flat area, such as in the Camp Creek area of Greene County.

“If you have a good south wind that comes off the mountains into the foothills, these are waves and crashes into foothills, kind of like waves coming off the water onto a beach,” Hotz said.