Texas Severe Storms to Bring Threat of Flooding, Tornadoes

By Meghan Evans, Meteorologist

January 7,2013; 5:30PM,EST

A big outbreak of severe storms may unfold across Texas Tuesday night into Wednesday.
A powerful storm system moving from northern Mexico into Texas on Tuesday night will be the trigger for the severe weather.
"For early January, this storm system is very unusual," AccuWeather Expert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said. "It is something you would normally see in March."
Enough humid and warm air will be pulled northward ahead of the system to fuel very violent storms.
"The potential [exists] for damaging winds, large hail and tornadoes with an area of very heavy rain that could cause flooding problems," AccuWeather Expert Senior Meteorologist Ken Clark said.
The severe weather threat zone will include the Hill Country of Texas northeastward to Dallas and northeastern Texas and southward to Houston.
Thunderstorms will first ignite across southern Texas on Tuesday night into early Wednesday morning.
The worst thunderstorms are expected to develop during the day Wednesday, especially across southeastern and eastern Texas.

Be prepared to take shelter if a severe thunderstorm or tornado warning is issued for your area. Have a weather radio and extra batteries on hand.
Flooding will also be a big concern with the thunderstorms across southeastern and eastern Texas, since 1-3 inches of rain can fall over a very short time. There may be isolated rain amounts of 4-5 inches, according to Kottlowski.
A squall line of severe storms will progress across eastern Texas and Louisiana by Wednesday afternoon and evening.

"This was a very large metal structure in Pennington Tx destroyed by the tornado earlier," tweeted @LovellRoss on Dec. 25, 2012.

On Thursday, the storm system will move northeastward, spreading locally heavy rain and thunderstorms into the Tennessee and western Ohio valleys. The main threat for severe weather will be across Mississippi and Alabama, mostly near the Gulf Coast.
Another storm system will move eastward across the U.S. late in the week into the weekend. Even more rain will be unleashed over southeastern Texas to the lower Mississippi Valley, potentially leading to more flooding issues.