By Brian Lada, Meteorologist
August 16,2014; 2:10AM,EDT
A slow-moving disturbance will spread unsettled weather across the Midwest this weekend before impacting the Northeast during the upcoming week.
The showers and heavy thunderstorms that this disturbance delivers will raise flooding concerns once again in the some areas impacted by flooding rain earlier in the week.
While showers and thunderstorms drop through the Great Lakes on Saturday to affect outdoor events, a cluster of drenching showers and thunderstorms will persist across northern Missouri, southern Iowa and neighboring parts of western Illinois.
This cluster will track eastward across the lower Midwest states Sunday through Monday, impacting St. Louis; Indianapolis; Cincinnati; Louisville, Kentucky; and Charleston, West Virginia.
The storms should then spread to southern New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and the Delmarva Peninsula around Tuesday of next week.
Along its journey from the Midwest and Northeast, the cluster of drenching showers and thunderstorms may trigger flash flooding.
According to AccuWeather.com Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, the danger is that we're going to have very steamy air to the south and cooler air to the north. This can lead to some episodes of thin bands of extremely heavy rain that can cause flooding.
Abrams warns that there could be situations early next week similar to what happened in New York earlier this week when central Long Island received around a foot of rain while New York City itself received less than an inch of rain.
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Storms of this nature that dump several inches of rain in just a few hours can result in tremendous flooding on roadways near bodies of water and cause extensive travel delays.
One factor that will contribute to the flooding risk is the heightened soil moisture from this week's rain.
Whenever it rains, the ground acts like a giant sponge soaking up the rainwater. However, when the ground becomes saturated with water, any additional rain that falls runs off into nearby streams and rivers rather than being absorbed and, in some cases, can lead to flash flooding.
This may be the case in areas across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic that have received several inches of rain in the past few days, including Baltimore and Islip, New York.
Those looking forward to the next spell of dry weather may have to wait as showers and thunderstorms remain in the forecast for portions of the Midwest and Northeast through the second half of the upcoming week.
Fortunately, it does not appear like many of the thunderstorms will produce widespread severe weather across the regions. However, a few isolated cases of gusty winds or small hail cannot be ruled out.
The storminess will hold down temperatures prior to a surge of summer heat that is expected later in the month.
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