Meteorologists say 2019 tornado season is active, above normal

AUSTIN, Texas (FOX 7 Austin) - Parts of the DFW metro have already seen tornadoes touch down Wednesday. A reminder that the severe weather season is far from over.

“This time of the year we have a very active jet stream and that's what provides that wind shear,” said Brett Wililams, NWS Austin/San Antonio.

Wind shear means speed and direction of wind. Tornadoes thrive off of significant wind shear and speed. “We've had this weather pattern that's been very consistent, very conducive for severe thunderstorms as well as flash flooding,” said Williams.

The 2019 severe weather season is already one for the books.

We are in the middle of  tornado outbreak nationwide.

“For the entire season as a whole, we are currently sitting above normal. Our last 30 days we've actually had about 500 reports and that comes in at fifth overall if you look at a 30-day rolling average only behind 2011, 2004, 2003 and 2008,” said Williams.

Texas is often in the pathway for twisters that can cause damage.

Meteorologists say the Austin-metro may get the tail end of the storms.

“We have active weather going across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, portions of Oklahoma, we have a cold front coming down from the north tonight and it may produce some strong to severe thunderstorms for the Austin area late tonight possibly into the early morning hours,” said Williams.

Officials are warning everyone in the path of these storms, to pay attention to any warnings, as these storms have potential to be deadly.