Hello and happy Wednesday everyone, hope all is well on this 25th of January. Can you believe this is the last full week of January 2012? The weather certainly has been more active this week; powerful Pacific storms continue to whip the West Coast and eventually trigger more inclement weather as it slides into the central and eastern part of the country. Another round of inclement weather is ongoing for the Gulf Coast states today and will be again tomorrow with severe storms and heavy rain.

National Weather Outlook

There are 2 areas of interest today, which are highlighted by the yellow circles below. These are the same two areas that had the interesting weather yesterday.

1.) Severe in the South & Heavy Rain

2.) Pacific Northwest Coastal Flooding & Mountain Snow

Severe in the South & Heavy Rain

This was the scene from Austin, TX yesterday – Thanks to SChimaHusky, who had his birthday yesterday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

See his video HERE:

Storm Report Map

The good news is that the storm report map from yesterday is not all that crazy looking. Just a few hail reports from near Austin, TX and one wind damage report from southwest of San Antonio. However, today and tomorrow might be a different story.

Severe Weather Continues

Look at what folks in Kingsville, TX woke up to this AM. This is a “Shelf Cloud” or the leading edge of a line of thunderstorm. This would indicate that the storm likely has strong gusty winds and heavy rain moving in quickly!

Squall Line Continued Moving East

Look at the radar image from earlier today near Houston, TX! Yikes, that looks nasty! The red boxes are thunderstorm warnings (FROM EARLIER TODAY), which produced wind damage reports as it moved through central and eastern Texas.

Not Done With Severe Weather

Today and tomorrow have been highlighted as days where severe weather may be possible along the Gulf Coast. Stay tuned to latest forecasts and have those weather radios running with battery back-up just in case severe weather threatens your neighborhood!

Wednesday’s Severe Weather Threat

Thursday’s Severe Weather Threat

Heavy Rain

Look at the heavy rain reports coming out of central Texas. This is some of the heaviest rain we’ve seen in months! It’s nice to see the rain… wish would could get it a little more spread out and we certainly don’t want the severe weather with it, but we’ll take it!

Record Rainfall

Austin, TX early Wednesday morning had already seen over 5″ of rain (good enough for a daily rainfall record) Other precipitation records are likely to fall today as well

More Flooding

These are all the flooding headlines that have been issued by the National Weather Service. Either Flooding or Flash Flooding is ongoing or Flooding is possible with rainfall amounts of 2″ to 4″ (Isolated 5″) possible

More Heavy Rain in the Forecast

This is the rainfall forecast through AM Friday, note the widespread 1″ to 3″ amounts across parts of the Lower Mississippi Valley, the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. Minor flooding along area rivers and stream could also be a problem in these locations. Note also the Pacific Northwest where heavy moisture continues through Friday, where heavy coastal rain could lead to flooding. Mountain snow will continue to add up too!

Thanks for checking in, have a great rest of your week!

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @TNelsonWNTV

-Meteorologist Todd Nelson-