Damaging winds, isolated tornadoes possible as severe weather moves through Lafayette

Acadiana is bracing for severe weather as a cold front moves through the area overnight Wednesday into Thursday, bringing the potential for damaging wind and isolated tornadoes.

The National Weather Service in Lake Charles is predicting the cold front will likely move over the state in the overnight hours from Wednesday into Thursday with the main threat being damaging winds. There also is a possibility for isolated tornadoes and large hail.

In Lafayette, there is a marginal risk for severe weather, which is a one out of five on the severe weather scale.

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"That cold front is going to be accompanied by a squall line and that squall line is going to have a risk of producing some potentially strong to severe weather, mainly along and within that squall line," Donald Jones, a meteorologist with the weather service, said in a Facebook live briefing.

The weather service is warning that because the severe weather could happen overnight, residents need to be mindful.

"Unfortunately, this is going to be an overnight event for the most part," Jones said. "You definitely want to make sure you have a couple of different means of receiving severe weather alerts in the event that we do get severe weather."

"You want to make sure you have a means of getting those alerts if any kind of warning is issued for those storms," he added.

The squall line is expected to pass over Acadiana starting at about 3 a.m., Jones said. Behind the squall line, there is not a threat of severe weather.

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After the cold front moves through, there will be some lingering showers Thursday. That night, temperatures will drop below freezing.

"If there's any lingering moisture after the sun goes down Thursday evening though, we could be looking at that switching over into a sleet and or freezing rain mix," Jones said. He added there was no expectation of accumulation.

Because of the potential for severe weather followed by below-freezing temperatures from Thursday to Saturday, people should take precautions with their plants and pets, bringing them inside, if possible.

Contact Ashley White at adwhite@theadvertiser.com or on Twitter @AshleyyDi.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Weather in Lafayette: Cold front could bring damaging winds, tornadoes