Posted: Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:13 AM - 9,006 Readers

By: Claudia Grisales

A Pacific cold front is making its way into the Austin area this morning, bringing drier and cooler conditions following heavy overnight rain, said Robert Baha, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Austin Bergstom International Airport recorded a half inch of rain during a brief burst of fast-moving storms earlier this morning. Camp Mabry reported less than one-tenth of an inch.

Austin Energy crews continued working this morning to resolve outages throughout the utility’s service area. The outages were scattered throughout the southern half of the utility’s service area, with the largest affecting customers in Southwest Austin near Southwest Parkway.

Today’s high is forecast to reach 72, the service said. We’ll see a low tonight of 46.

Highs in the 70s and lows in the 50s are expected through Thanksgiving day, with a chance of rain back in the forecast Friday, the service said.

Earlier: A strong line of thunderstorms brought heavy rains and lightning moved to Central Texas early this morning, the National Weather Service said.

In a special weather statement issued at 4 a.m., the service said the storms could produce up to one inch of rain, nickle-size hail and wind gusts of up to 45 mph. The storm was expected to move through the Austin area by 5 a.m.

The service urged caution as the heavy rain could flood low-lying areas such as ditches and low water crossings.

Austin Energy was reporting a few small power outages throughout its service area. About 100 customers scattered throughout portions of Southwest Austin and in smaller pockets in Southeast and Northeast Austin were affected, the utility said.

The rains come ahead of a Pacific cold front expected to reach the Austin area later today, bringing much drier and cooler conditions.

*  Story Contributed by: Claudia Grisales