Up to 8 inches of rain to drill the South this week
By
Brandon Buckingham, AccuWeather Meteorologist
Published Feb 3, 2020 10:27 AM EST
A wide swath of the southern and eastern United States is at risk for flooding into Thursday night as rounds of downpours sweep through the area.
Above-average warmth during the early and middle part of the week has allowed ample amounts of moisture to surge northward out of the Gulf of Mexico.
Soaking rain began to blossom over the lower Mississippi Valley and portions of the mid-South on Tuesday night and expanded north and east throughout Wednesday.
By Wednesday night, a slew of flash flooding warnings were in effect across the Tennessee Valley with flooding ongoing in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky.
As of Thursday afternoon, Fayetteville and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, had both topped 6 inches of rain with more than 5.50 inches falling on Knoxville, Tennessee. More than 4 inches of rain has fallen thus far from the storm system in parts of western North Carolina, northern and central Alabama, North Georgia and portions of Mississippi.
Into Thursday night, downpours will slowly expand northeastward toward the southern Atlantic Coast. A heightened urban and small stream flood risk is expected across the Southeast as severe thunderstorms track through the region.
A general 2-4 inches of rain is forecast with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 8 inches throughout the entire event.
"The small streams will respond almost immediately to the heavy rainfall, while the progressively larger rivers and non-tidal waterways near the coast may take a few days to crest after the rain comes to an end," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
"In terms of the small stream and urban flooding threat, the situation can escalate to life-threatening conditions very quickly," he added.
"Many southern cities, such as Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville, recorded higher-than-average rainfall totals for the month of January," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. "Atlanta recorded 8.01 inches of rain in January, which nearly doubled the typical total of 4.20 inches."
Many locales across the mid-Atlantic could experience a long-duration rainfall event as the storm system tracks up the Atlantic coast into Friday. As cold air rushes in across the interior Northeast, rain and/or ice can change to heavy snow by Friday.
The expansive area of rain expected across the Southern states will generally clear out in a west-to-east fashion late week as a cold front sweeps through the region to end the week. As the cold air filters in, a few snowflakes may even mix in across portions of the mid-South and southern Appalachians before the dry air mass takes over.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Severe Weather
Up to 8 inches of rain to drill the South this week
By Brandon Buckingham, AccuWeather Meteorologist
Published Feb 3, 2020 10:27 AM EST
A wide swath of the southern and eastern United States is at risk for flooding into Thursday night as rounds of downpours sweep through the area.
Above-average warmth during the early and middle part of the week has allowed ample amounts of moisture to surge northward out of the Gulf of Mexico.
Soaking rain began to blossom over the lower Mississippi Valley and portions of the mid-South on Tuesday night and expanded north and east throughout Wednesday.
By Wednesday night, a slew of flash flooding warnings were in effect across the Tennessee Valley with flooding ongoing in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky.
As of Thursday afternoon, Fayetteville and Oak Ridge, Tennessee, had both topped 6 inches of rain with more than 5.50 inches falling on Knoxville, Tennessee. More than 4 inches of rain has fallen thus far from the storm system in parts of western North Carolina, northern and central Alabama, North Georgia and portions of Mississippi.
Into Thursday night, downpours will slowly expand northeastward toward the southern Atlantic Coast. A heightened urban and small stream flood risk is expected across the Southeast as severe thunderstorms track through the region.
A general 2-4 inches of rain is forecast with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 8 inches throughout the entire event.
"The small streams will respond almost immediately to the heavy rainfall, while the progressively larger rivers and non-tidal waterways near the coast may take a few days to crest after the rain comes to an end," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
"In terms of the small stream and urban flooding threat, the situation can escalate to life-threatening conditions very quickly," he added.
"Many southern cities, such as Atlanta, Charlotte and Nashville, recorded higher-than-average rainfall totals for the month of January," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said. "Atlanta recorded 8.01 inches of rain in January, which nearly doubled the typical total of 4.20 inches."
Related:
Many locales across the mid-Atlantic could experience a long-duration rainfall event as the storm system tracks up the Atlantic coast into Friday. As cold air rushes in across the interior Northeast, rain and/or ice can change to heavy snow by Friday.
The expansive area of rain expected across the Southern states will generally clear out in a west-to-east fashion late week as a cold front sweeps through the region to end the week. As the cold air filters in, a few snowflakes may even mix in across portions of the mid-South and southern Appalachians before the dry air mass takes over.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo