Severe thunderstorms continue to rumble through southern Plains
Into Monday night, a narrow line of thunderstorms containing damaging wind gusts could extend across much of central and eastern Oklahoma into northern Texas, forecasters say.
Southwestern Oklahoma experienced an early-morning storm that caused ponding on area roadways during the morning commute for travelers.
Severe weather has been non-existent across the United States for the past several days. However, AccuWeather meteorologists say that will be changing to begin the new workweek.
The initial risk of severe weather developed farther to the west late on Sunday. As a cold front moved out of New Mexico and into Texas and Oklahoma and more moisture streams into the region, thunderstorms blossomed just after sunset on Sunday.
As the front continues to move eastward, the environment will become more conducive for the thunderstorms to strengthen and turn strong to severe.
On Monday, a narrow line of thunderstorms containing torrential downpours and damaging wind gusts extended across central and eastern Oklahoma into northern Texas.
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The line of thunderstorms will continue to progress eastward into Monday night. Flash flooding, hail, damaging wind gusts and isolated tornadoes will still all be possible.
Outside of severe weather, a much larger zone will have a risk for heavy rainfall. Despite long-term drought conditions, much of the Plains have already had excessive amounts of rain this month.
For example, Wichita, Kansas, has received 5.77 inches of rain through the first half of November. The historical average in terms of rainfall for the entire month of November is just 1.36 inches. In fact, there have been two days this month in which more rain fell than the typical value for the entire month: 3.13 inches on Nov. 2 and 1.57 inches on Nov. 8. It is already the fourth-wettest November on record, and less than an inch away from the November record of 6.69 inches set in 1909. This record is very likely to be broken.
"Much of the southern Plains has been inundated with rainfall so far this month, so additional rainfall across the region could quickly lead to flooding, especially with rainfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour in some of the storms," warned Douty.
Most of the region should dry out by Tuesday as the cold front moves even farther to the east. However, some moisture will linger in the northern Plains. In that area, the air may be cold enough for precipitation to fall in the form of snow.
It will be the first snow of the season for portions of the northern Plains and southern Canada.
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