Flood-weary central US to receive break from persistent downpours this week
A severe weather risk on Sunday morning delivered as it produced rounds of severe thunderstorms and wind damage to the Oklahoma City area.
While showers and locally severe thunderstorms will cross the central United States on occasion this week, the wet weather will not be as persistent as in recent weeks.
The less frequent rainy periods will aid communities continuing to clean up from devastating flooding and farmers who have been kept from working in flooded fields.
However, some days will require residents to grab the umbrella or keep a close eye to the sky due to the risk of thunderstorms.
A sweep of drier air spilling over the Plains will confine downpours to southern New Mexico and central and southern Texas into Monday night.
Outside of rogue storms near the Canadian border, Monday's weather will be a pleasant break from the recent storminess with sunshine, low humidity and highs in the 70s F across the Plains.
Showers and storms will become more widespread across the Plains and Midwest as a system moves in Tuesday into Wednesday.
"These storms have a chance to become severe with damaging winds and hail," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said.
The greatest risk of storms to turn locally violent will be across the central and southern Plains.
The quick-moving nature of this storm system should lower the risk of new instances of flooding.
How fast rainfall returns to the region will be determined by the strength of an area of high pressure following this quick-moving system.
A stronger high will promote dry weather for most of the Central states late this week while a weaker high would allow rain to return to the Midwest.
In either scenario, thunderstorm complexes can roll from the Rockies and into the neighboring central and southern High Plains late in the week.
In this June 4, 2019 photo, floodwaters from the Missouri River cover a road in Fort Calhoun, Neb. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Any rainfall this week should have a negligible impact on the ongoing river flooding.
Late Saturday, the Mississippi River at St. Louis crested at its second-highest level on record at 46.02 feet, which trails only the 49.58-foot crest during the Great Flood of 1993.
This surge of water is not expected to reach lower portions of the Mississippi River until later in the week, according to National Weather Service hydrologists.
Near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, officials have delayed opening the Morganza Spillway along the Mississippi River indefinitely. The spillway was originally scheduled to begin operating on Sunday, June 9.
"Operation of the structure will be a consideration until the Mississippi River crests and begins to fall," the New Orleans District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a statement.
AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring the potential for repeating rounds of heavy rainfall to bring a heightened flood risk back to the Plains and perhaps send a new surge of water into area rivers beginning next weekend.
There is concern that a front could stall and bring heavy rainfall and thunderstorms from the southern Rockies to the central Plains during the middle of June, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jack Boston.
Download the free AccuWeather app for more precise details on the forecast for your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
