A wind advisory was in effect in the ArkLaTex most of today due to 25- to 35 mph winds that buffeted the area.
A wind gust of 47 mph was reported at Barksdale Air Force Base this morning. This afternoon, winds were decreasing -- gusts were down to 30 mph -- and the advisory was set to expire at 6 p.m.
The winds are a reminder of the powerful thunderstorms that moved through the area Tuesday afternoon and night -- dropping large amounts of rain in some areas and toppling trees and power lines. A small tornado was confirmed near Longview.
The highest wind gust in Shreveport on Tuesday was 52 mph, the National Weather Service said. Rainfall amounts ranged from half an inch in Shreveport, to an inch-and-a-half in Texarkana, and three-to-five inches along a line from Clarksville, Texas, to De Queen, Ark.
Thousands of people lost electric power at one point. The number of outages was down to 1,800 this afternoon, all in Gregg County, Texas.
The sunshine came back this afternoon and the temperature late this afternoon was 60. Thursday -- the first day of spring -- is expected to be beautiful: Sunny skies with a high of 70.
The Weather Service was in the Longview-Kilgore area of East Texas today to confirm there had been a tornado there.
Trees were down all over Gregg County and several buildings were damaged, the Weather Service said. Amtrak had to stop its Texas Eagle route in Longview due to a track being washed out.
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