Austin weather: Severe thunderstorm watch issued for Central Texas

AUSTIN, Texas - Welcome to May and the peak of severe weather season!

We start the new month with increasing rain and storm chances later today and tonight.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Gillespie County, Hays County, Caldwell County, Bastrop County, Blanco County, Lee County, Travis County, Llano County, Burnet County, Williamson County, and Fayette County until 2 a.m.

A Flood Watch has been issued from Wednesday at 3 p.m. to Thursday at 7 a.m. for Travis County, Williamson County, Hays County, Gillespie County, Caldwell County, Bastrop County, Blanco County, Lee County, Llano County, Burnet County, and Fayette County.

Before the storms arrive, expect cloudy, drizzly, warm, humid and breezy conditions.

We will have two rounds of storms. The first one arrives in the late afternoon and early evening and the second one gets here after midnight.

Much of the area is under a slight risk of severe storms featuring large hail, damaging winds and even isolated tornadoes.

Even the localized flooding threat is increasing with the future rain totals trending wetter. Stay weather aware!

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