More than a half a foot of rain also fell in parts of Iowa.

Damaging storms moved through a large part of the country yesterday from New Mexico to New York.

Damaging winds near 60 mph were reported near Richmond, Virginia, where trees fell on cars and a gas station was destroyed.

Also, several inches of rain fell near Washington, D.C. in a short period of time producing localized flash flooding.

In western Texas, winds gusted to 78 mph and in both Texas and New Mexico hail fell as large as tennis balls.

In the Midwest, more than a half a foot of rain fell in parts of Iowa and produced flash flooding there.

Today, this frontal storm system will continue to move across the country bringing a chance for more severe storms for a large area from New Mexico all the way into parts of the Northeast.

The most severe storms today will be in New Mexico where damaging winds and large hail will be the biggest threat.

Severe storms could also develop all along the Gulf Coast from Houston to New Orleans as well as in the Northeast from Virginia to Pennsylvania and western New York where some of these thunderstorms could become severe with damaging winds being the biggest threat.

All of these thunderstorms around the country could bring locally a lot of rain that could cause flash flooding within minutes.

The heaviest rain over the next two days will be in eastern Texas and along the Gulf Coast where some areas could see more than 5 inches of rain bringing with it possible areas of flash flooding.

In the West, the scorching heat wave continues with triple digits reaching all the way to southern Oregon today.

This heat and localized gusty winds are making firefighting difficult, especially in the Tucson area where the Bighorn Fire is now 58,553 acres and 33% contained.

Near Phoenix, the Bush fire did not spread much and it is still about 186,848 acres and 61% contained.

Because of the high heat, a Heat Advisory has been issued for California and southern Oregon.

No significant wind is expected, but localized winds in southern Colorado could gust to 35 mph which is where a Red Flag Warning has been issued.

The inferno continues from northern Califronia all the way to southern Arizona where temperatures will be in the 100’s and 110s.

As we head through the week, gusty winds will return to southern Arizona by Friday with gusts possible near 30 mph.