Stormy weather pattern on the way for the West and the South

The beautiful and tranquil weather around the country is over on Thursday as several storms systems are expected to move from West to East with heavy rain, strong to severe thunderstorms, heavy snow and damaging winds.

In the West, a snowstorm hit Colorado overnight with Denver getting 6 to 12 inches of snow which caused numerous accidents, spinouts and stalled vehicles.

On Thursday morning, 10 states are on alert from California to Montana with damaging winds, heavy snow and avalanche danger as a winter storm warning continues for Denver early today.

Gusty, damaging winds are even expected in southern California with local gusts of up to 50 to 70 mph possible in Los Angeles County.

In the Rockies and the Cascades, locally 1 to 3 feet of snow is possible over the next several days as these storms continue to move through.

A combination of gusty winds near 80 mph and heavy snow will continue to produce dangerous avalanche conditions, especially for the northern Rockies and the Cascades.

Some of this wild western weather will move into the South today with heavy rain and a chance for strong to severe thunderstorms and a chance for damaging winds and hail.

Some of the strongest storms are expected to fire up today from Dallas to Shreveport and into northern Mississippi.

Over the next several days, storms will continue to move through the South over the same areas, increasing chances for flooding and locally some areas could see up to a half a foot of rain from eastern Texas into northern Alabama and Tennessee.