East Texas
A few cities include: College Station, Dallas and Tyler.
Local tornado season: Peaks between mid-April and mid-May.
Terrain: Heavily forested in most areas with several lakes.
Road network: Reasonable up north, more irregular down south.
Radar coverage: Poor in most areas.
East Texas begins the transition between the Southern Plains and the Lower Mississippi Valley as one moves east. Tornadoes are most common in East Texas in April and May. All significant hazards, including strong tornadoes, very large hail and destructive winds occur in this area. Some long-track tornadoes have been noted, especially in far eastern parts of Texas.
Due to proximity to the Gulf of Mexico and a tendency for elevated mixed layer (EMLs) plumes to erode, most supercells here are high precipitation in nature. In other words, many storms are low contrast and already hard to see, before factoring in terrain obstacles. While supercell thunderstorms may be common in East Texas, do not expect many of them to be photogenic.
Terrain
The terrain of East Texas is not the most favorable for storm chasing. Most of the area is covered with dense forests. Even the area close to the Red River, which is relatively flat, has forested areas. The density of trees increases as one approaches the Louisiana border. Due to an abundance of trees, visibility of storms will generally be quite limited in East Texas. The main exceptions will be near the Red River and farther west away from the border with Louisiana.
Road network
The road network in East Texas is basically split into two categories:
Northern parts of East Texas have the densest road network. To the northeast of Dallas, there is an area where the road network is partially gridded, making it relatively favorable for storm chasing. Otherwise, while there are plenty of routes to take, roads can take jagged, curved paths that may not be the easiest to work with.
Southern parts of East Texas and eastern areas near the Louisiana border feature a sparser road network. While there may not be huge gaps in the road network, the forested terrain and a tendency for irregular secondary roads, can make storm chasing difficult. That is assuming you can even see your storms around the trees.
There are several major freeways spanning the area. While you will want to avoid chasing near Dallas, it can be a good starting point to venture into East Texas. I-30 travels east-northeast toward Texarkana. The road network near and north of I-30 is manageable. I-20 takes more of an eastward trajectory toward Shreveport, Louisiana. Storm chasing between I-20 and I-30 is possible, but tree density increases with eastward extent. I-45 tracks southeast toward Houston and while the area within 50-100 miles southeast of Dallas is not too challenging for storm chasing, the region gets rapidly more hostile with southeast extent.
Radar coverage
While KFWS covers the greater Dallas area, there is little to no radar coverage up near Paris. Farther east, near and east of Tyler, KSHV comes into range. However, when chasing south of Tyler and toward the College Station area, there is another glaring gap. KHGX can offer some coverage in Southeast Texas, but population density increases here, so it is not exactly the easiest place to storm chase.
In summary, East Texas has some areas that are favorable for storm chasing, up north, although limited radar data might be a challenge to work with. Areas farther south and east feature thick forests, poor radar coverage and tough road networks, making it a very difficult place to storm chase.