Week to end with rounds of rain from Texas to Carolinas
By
Renee Duff, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Updated Jan 20, 2021 4:06 PM EDT
A sailing vessel struggled through rough waves off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida, on Jan. 16. It needed the assistance of the Coast Guard.
The opportunity for residents across the Southeast to take advantage of a stretch of mainly dry weather is quickly closing, with forecasters predicting rain to return late this week.
A storm bringing needed rain and snow to the Southwest, but also damaging winds to California, will track eastward across the southern tier of the country Thursday through Friday.
Rain from the storm was already expanding across a large part of Texas on Wednesday.
"Rain will spread and break out farther to the east during Thursday into Thursday night from eastern Texas to parts of the Carolinas, with many of the same areas then remaining pretty gloomy and damp through Friday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda said.
A corridor of downpours may take shape along or in-between the Interstate 10 and I-20 corridors from Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Within this zone, 1-2 inches of rain can pour down with locally higher amounts.
Such an amount of rain is good news for areas of the Southeast that are abnormally dry and running precipitation deficits so far this month. This includes places such as New Orleans, and Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, where rainfall has totaled less than 50% of normal since the beginning of the year.
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On the opposite side of the spectrum, however, have been places such as Tallahassee, Florida; Augusta, Georgia; and Columbia, South Carolina, where dry days have been hard to come by this month and January rainfall is running well above normal.
Regardless of whether the band of heaviest rainfall sets up over the drier or wetter locations, the risk of flooding with this event should be rather low given the quick forward motion of the storm.
Still, there can be delays on the road and in the air, especially at some of the busier hubs such as New Orleans and Atlanta.
"Travelers along major thoroughfares such as interstates 10, 20, 55 and 65 could see some slowdowns," Sojda said.
Ponding of water on the roadway will also heighten the risk of vehicles hydroplaning at highway speeds, and blowing spray from vehicles will reduce visibility.
There is a small chance for precipitation to make it far enough north to meet up with cold air and result in a wintry mix of precipitation in a narrow zone.
"The most likely zone for this would stretch from the Ozarks in Arkansas into Tennessee. If precipitation remains farther south, just plain rain would be expected with this system," Sojda said.
Forecasters expect drier weather to move into most of the Southeast for the first half of the weekend, but it won't be long before a new storm system delivers another soaking rain by early next week.
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
Week to end with rounds of rain from Texas to Carolinas
By Renee Duff, AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Updated Jan 20, 2021 4:06 PM EDT
A sailing vessel struggled through rough waves off the coast of St. Petersburg, Florida, on Jan. 16. It needed the assistance of the Coast Guard.
The opportunity for residents across the Southeast to take advantage of a stretch of mainly dry weather is quickly closing, with forecasters predicting rain to return late this week.
A storm bringing needed rain and snow to the Southwest, but also damaging winds to California, will track eastward across the southern tier of the country Thursday through Friday.
Rain from the storm was already expanding across a large part of Texas on Wednesday.
"Rain will spread and break out farther to the east during Thursday into Thursday night from eastern Texas to parts of the Carolinas, with many of the same areas then remaining pretty gloomy and damp through Friday," AccuWeather Meteorologist Jake Sojda said.
A corridor of downpours may take shape along or in-between the Interstate 10 and I-20 corridors from Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Within this zone, 1-2 inches of rain can pour down with locally higher amounts.
Such an amount of rain is good news for areas of the Southeast that are abnormally dry and running precipitation deficits so far this month. This includes places such as New Orleans, and Birmingham and Mobile, Alabama, where rainfall has totaled less than 50% of normal since the beginning of the year.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP
On the opposite side of the spectrum, however, have been places such as Tallahassee, Florida; Augusta, Georgia; and Columbia, South Carolina, where dry days have been hard to come by this month and January rainfall is running well above normal.
Regardless of whether the band of heaviest rainfall sets up over the drier or wetter locations, the risk of flooding with this event should be rather low given the quick forward motion of the storm.
Still, there can be delays on the road and in the air, especially at some of the busier hubs such as New Orleans and Atlanta.
"Travelers along major thoroughfares such as interstates 10, 20, 55 and 65 could see some slowdowns," Sojda said.
Ponding of water on the roadway will also heighten the risk of vehicles hydroplaning at highway speeds, and blowing spray from vehicles will reduce visibility.
Related:
There is a small chance for precipitation to make it far enough north to meet up with cold air and result in a wintry mix of precipitation in a narrow zone.
"The most likely zone for this would stretch from the Ozarks in Arkansas into Tennessee. If precipitation remains farther south, just plain rain would be expected with this system," Sojda said.
Forecasters expect drier weather to move into most of the Southeast for the first half of the weekend, but it won't be long before a new storm system delivers another soaking rain by early next week.
Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
Report a Typo