Parts of the South face a severe weather threat late Thursday into Friday. Several inches of rainfall could come down quickly as a squall line punches eastward from Texas and Arkansas to Mississippi,

A sprawling storm will spread heavy rain and locally severe thunderstorms from Texas to the Carolinas during the last days of January, a little over a week since a rare snow event impacted parts of this same area.

The weather system that provided a rainy respite for firefighters in California continued its roll across the nation Wednesday, and was forecast to spread rain, snow and ice along a 2,600-mile stretch from the Southwest to Northeast by the weekend,