Inches of rain to douse southern US, ease drought for some
By
Brandon Buckingham, AccuWeather Meteorologist
Published Nov 19, 2019 10:25 AM EDT
A swath of drenching rain is forecast to push across a large part of the southern United States into the first part of the weekend -- and meteorologists say the timing of the unsettled weather could cause disruptions for early Thanksgiving travelers.
A plume of moist air flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico and a couple of disturbances ejecting from the southwestern United States will set the stage for rounds of rain and thunderstorms across portions of Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley into Saturday, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Tiffany Fortier.
One of the disturbances aforementioned allowed rain to break out across the lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys on Thursday.
A second disturbance that arrives from the Southwest states is expected to cause rain to erupt again across much of the same area and others over the South on Friday.
Commuters and early Thanksgiving travelers will face poor visibility at times and the risk of hydroplaning.
One last disturbance is forecast to roll across the South Central states during Friday night to Saturday.
"The disturbances are forecast to congeal into one main storm that affect the Southeast states and then the Northeast this weekend," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
In the Southeast, the bulk of the rain will tend to fall well north of the Gulf coast and northwest of the Atlantic coast.
"Rainfall totals of 1-2 inches will be common with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 4 inches from the entire wet pattern that began early Thursday to its conclusion off the Atlantic coast late Saturday night," Sosnowski said.
"However, we expect some rain to pivot across the northeast Gulf coast, the Piedmont areas and southern Atlantic coast during Saturday to Saturday night," Sosnowski said. "As a result, people with flexible outdoor activities or travel plans this weekend may want to hold off until Sunday."
Any rain from the pattern will be beneficial as it tracks into the Southeast. The recent coastal storm that developed in the Gulf before tracking up the Atlantic coast helped to ease drought conditions, but it didn't entirely eliminate them.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate drought conditions are still gripping some areas from the Florida Panhandle to the Carolinas and southern Virginia.
As the rain comes to an end in the wake of the storm system across the South, dry air will filter into the region. It won't be nearly as cold as the Arctic blast experienced earlier in November, but it will make for a noticeably cooler weekend compared to much of this week.
Temperatures will top out in the 50s F and fall into the 40s for some areas of the South on Saturday, falling around 10 to 15 degrees below normal for this time of year.
Farther north, the air may be cold enough to allow for some snow and ice on the northwest flank of the storm over parts of the Ohio Valley and Northeast from Saturday to early Sunday.
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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News / Weather Forecasts
Inches of rain to douse southern US, ease drought for some
By Brandon Buckingham, AccuWeather Meteorologist
Published Nov 19, 2019 10:25 AM EDT
A swath of drenching rain is forecast to push across a large part of the southern United States into the first part of the weekend -- and meteorologists say the timing of the unsettled weather could cause disruptions for early Thanksgiving travelers.
A plume of moist air flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico and a couple of disturbances ejecting from the southwestern United States will set the stage for rounds of rain and thunderstorms across portions of Texas and the lower Mississippi Valley into Saturday, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Tiffany Fortier.
One of the disturbances aforementioned allowed rain to break out across the lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys on Thursday.
A second disturbance that arrives from the Southwest states is expected to cause rain to erupt again across much of the same area and others over the South on Friday.
Related:
Commuters and early Thanksgiving travelers will face poor visibility at times and the risk of hydroplaning.
One last disturbance is forecast to roll across the South Central states during Friday night to Saturday.
"The disturbances are forecast to congeal into one main storm that affect the Southeast states and then the Northeast this weekend," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
In the Southeast, the bulk of the rain will tend to fall well north of the Gulf coast and northwest of the Atlantic coast.
"Rainfall totals of 1-2 inches will be common with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 4 inches from the entire wet pattern that began early Thursday to its conclusion off the Atlantic coast late Saturday night," Sosnowski said.
"However, we expect some rain to pivot across the northeast Gulf coast, the Piedmont areas and southern Atlantic coast during Saturday to Saturday night," Sosnowski said. "As a result, people with flexible outdoor activities or travel plans this weekend may want to hold off until Sunday."
Any rain from the pattern will be beneficial as it tracks into the Southeast. The recent coastal storm that developed in the Gulf before tracking up the Atlantic coast helped to ease drought conditions, but it didn't entirely eliminate them.
According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate drought conditions are still gripping some areas from the Florida Panhandle to the Carolinas and southern Virginia.
As the rain comes to an end in the wake of the storm system across the South, dry air will filter into the region. It won't be nearly as cold as the Arctic blast experienced earlier in November, but it will make for a noticeably cooler weekend compared to much of this week.
Temperatures will top out in the 50s F and fall into the 40s for some areas of the South on Saturday, falling around 10 to 15 degrees below normal for this time of year.
Farther north, the air may be cold enough to allow for some snow and ice on the northwest flank of the storm over parts of the Ohio Valley and Northeast from Saturday to early Sunday.
Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo