Election Day weather: Rain, severe storms could complicate trips to polls across central US
Election Day downpours are likely to dampen trips to the polls across the central U.S., while spotty showers may reach the Northeast and severe weather could cause disruptions in part of the Mississippi Valley.
Bernie Rayno breaks down what’s causing the flooding and who is being impacted this week.
A changing weather pattern will send rain and thunderstorms from the Southwest into the central and eastern United States early next week, potentially complicating trips to the polls in some areas on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3.
A stalled weather pattern has brought an extended stretch of sunshine and warm afternoons to much of the eastern half of the nation.
Those conditions will continue across parts of the East through Halloween weekend before Pacific storms begin moving more regularly across the U.S. early next week.
First, tropical moisture partly associated with Vance, a former major hurricane in the eastern Pacific, will spread northeastward from Texas this weekend into early next week.
Showers and thunderstorms will become less widespread as they approach the Ohio Valley and the Northeast, but spotty showers may reach the coastal mid-Atlantic and New England by Tuesday, including New York City, Philadelphia and Boston.
Farther south, thunderstorms with disruptive downpours are forecast to spread into the Southeast this weekend but move away from the southern Atlantic Seaboard by Tuesday. Atlanta, Charlotte and Miami may be free of any long-lasting rain.
Farther west, moisture associated with Olana near Hawaii could reach northwestern Mexico and Southern California this weekend. Although low pressure associated with Olana is forecast to dissipate before then, some of its moisture could feed a plume extending from near Hawaii toward North America. If that plume develops into an atmospheric river, it could qualify as a Pineapple Express.
The Pacific moisture is forecast to feed a storm developing over the Southwest later this weekend. That storm will then spread rain and thunderstorms across the Great Plains and Mississippi Valley early next week.
Rain is likely on Election Day across portions of Kansas, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio, potentially affecting voters traveling to polling places or waiting outdoors. This includes the Chicago, Detroit and Kansas City, Missouri, metro areas.
Some locations may have several hours of steady rain, while others receive only a shower or two.
Farther south, warm, humid air will help fuel thunderstorms on Tuesday from the Texas and Louisiana coasts northward into portions of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.
"There is the risk for severe weather from the southern and central parts of the Plains late Monday to the middle and lower parts of the Mississippi Valley on Tuesday," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Joe Lundberg said. The current long-range severe weather potential includes the cities of Houston, New Orleans and Nashville.
If conditions favor more widespread severe weather, thunderstorms could produce damaging wind gusts and localized power outages across parts of the southern and central Plains Monday night and the middle and lower Mississippi Valley Tuesday. Heavy downpours could also cause street flooding. A few tornadoes are possible, but the extent of the severe weather threat remains uncertain this early.
Pacific moisture interacting with colder air could bring accumulating snow to parts of Colorado and Wyoming Sunday into Tuesday, potentially extending below the higher mountain elevations. Denver is one of the locations being monitored.
While spotty showers may affect San Francisco on Election Day, dry weather is forecast for Los Angeles and Seattle.
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