SEVERE WEATHER BACK IN AREA FORECAST

Repeat of recent deluge isn’t expected, but gusts could hit 60 mph.

Austin should prepare for another round of stormy weather starting Tuesday afternoon as a cold front sweeps across Central Texas, the National Weather Service warned Monday.

Forecasters said a moist and unstable mass of air over the region would make strong to severe storms possible from the eastern portions of the Hill Country to areas along and east of the Interstate 35 corridor.

Possible hazards to watch for include damaging straight-line winds with gusts up to 60 mph and hail anywhere from the size of quarters to as large as golf balls, the weather service said.

Austin temperatures could climb as high as 81 degrees before the worst of the storms roll in after 2 p.m., according to the latest outlook.

Although forecasters expected Austin to get up to a quarter-inch of rain, the weather service warned that heavier thunderstorms could drop as much as 1.5 inches of rain in some spots.

It’s a significant amount of rain in the forecast, but far less than the mini-deluge Central Texas saw last week. Last Wednesday was the rainiest day in March since such recordkeeping began in Austin in the 1890s. Austin’s main weather station at Camp Mabry measured 3.28 inches of rain, breaking the daily record of 3.26 inches set in 2006. The total rainfall at Mabry in March was 3.74 inches — nearly an inch more than the monthly normal amount — making last

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