Weather Underground Forecast for Wednesday, January 25, 2012.
A stalled frontal zone in the Southern Plains will give rise to a new area of low pressure in eastern Texas and southern Oklahoma on Wednesday. The low will develop slowly, but due to its proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, it will have a rich moisture source to bring heavy precipitation to the region. Heavy rains and thunderstorms will develop throughout the region, spreading north from their Gulf origins. Eastern Texas and Louisiana may experience severe weather conditions with damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes.
While the region is in dire need of rain, many of the thunderstorms will bring the rain in quick heavy bursts, leading to localized and urban flooding. In addition to this activity, cloud cover will spread north out of this low bringing cloudy to partly cloudy skies to much of the Northeast. The cloud cover should not produce any significant rain in the Northeast however.
To the north and west of the southern storm, a few areas of precipitation are expected in the Northern Plains along with some high clouds, but generally dry conditions will be most common.
The Northwest will see another shot of precipitation as another Pacific cold front pushes across the coast. Once again, heavy rain will fall along the coast, with high elevation areas expected to receive deep snowfall accumulations. Precipitation will spread eastward through the Northwest as this front pushes inland.
Elsewhere in the west, high pressure in the Great Basin should keep skies clear and allow temperatures to climb to near normal or above. Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Tuesday have ranged from a morning low of -20 degrees at West Yellowstone, Mont. to a high of 84 degrees at Plant City, Fla.
