Severe Weather Turns Deadly Along the Gulf Coast

By Kristina Pydynowski, Senior Meteorologist

December 25,2012; 6:05PM,EST

An outbreak of severe weather, including tornadoes, has erupted along the Gulf Coast and has already ruined Christmas Day for at least one family and community.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists are especially concerned for the potential for loss of life with this outbreak since people may be busy with holiday activity and miss vital warnings.
One man died south of Tomball, Texas, (near Houston) when strong winds downed a tree branch onto him. He was clearing another fallen tree branch.
North of this location, a tornado destroyed a building 13 miles southeast of Crockett, Texas. A bank lost a section of its roof.
Powerful thunderstorms and tornadoes have cleared southeastern Texas and will continue to march through Louisiana into western Mississippi through the rest of this Christmas Day.
The danger tonight will center on eastern Louisiana, the southern half of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and southeastern Tennessee before shifting to the Southeast coast on Wednesday.

Wilmington, N.C., Charleston, S.C., Savannah, Ga., and Jacksonville, Fla., are among the communities at risk on Wednesday.

The same storm set to trigger the impending severe weather outbreak will also spread a swath of significant snow from the southern Plains to the eastern Great Lakes and Northeast from Christmas Day to Thursday.