Frequent downpours to jeopardize outdoor plans in southeastern US into the weekend

By Renee Duff, AccuWeather meteorologist

July 20, 2018, 3:17:52 PM EDT

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Showers and thunderstorms will congregate over the southeastern United States into the weekend. As the coverage and intensity of the storms increase, the risk of flash flooding and outdoor disruptions will keep pace.

Through Friday night, the heaviest rainfall is projected to pivot northward along the Carolina coast.

The frequent downpours near the coast will gather along the boundary separating dry, comfortable air to the north and steamy air to the south.

AccuWeather meteorologists are monitoring the possibility for a potential tropical system to spin up along this boundary.

There is a low chance for a system to develop in the southwestern Atlantic, just off the southern Atlantic Seaboard, into Saturday, according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.

“It may be too close to the coast for anything extreme, but a tropical depression or subtropical storm could form, resulting in heavier rainfall from the eastern Gulf coast and northern Florida to the Southeast coast,” Pastelok said.

Even if the system does not strengthen into a tropical entity, people from Savannah, Georgia, to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and the Outer Banks of North Carolina can expect more drenching downpours and a heightened risk of flash flooding to close out the week.

Those with plans to go to the beach may need to find alternate indoor activities to do.

This system is likely to stir up gusty winds and rough seas along the coast, and eventually enhance rainfall in part of the Northeast this weekend.

While coastal communities will experience the bulk of the wet weather into the weekend, residents of the interior Southeast will also need to break out umbrellas on occasion.

Wet weather is likely to return from west to east in these areas into Saturday.

"Following the risk of severe thunderstorms in parts of Tennessee on Friday, severe storms may erupt from central and southern Alabama to Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Frank Strait.

As an atmospheric roadblock sets up with a deep dip in the jet stream, damp conditions are forecast to last through Sunday and even into early next week along the East Coast.

While the wet pattern may be a bother to those who like to be outdoors, temperatures where there are plenty of clouds and frequent downpours will be kept from hitting the oppressive levels that are typical in the South during the summer months.

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