Midweek Rain, Storms to Raise Flood Threat in Southeast

By Brian Lada, Meteorologist

April 27,2015; 9:12PM,EDT

 

 

Bouts of heavy rain will once again visit the Southeast this week, bringing the threat of flooding and travel delays. Severe thunderstorms are also a concern for the Deep South.
People in the South can expect the rain to move in on Tuesday and continue through Wednesday with the heaviest downpours occurring along the Gulf Coast and across Florida.
Those traveling along the Interstate 10 corridor between New Orleans and Tallahassee, southward to central Florida should anticipate delays due to the rain and should allow for extra travel time to reach their destination.

Not only will downpours create disruptions for travel and outdoor activities across the region, but so will thunderstorms.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists believe that some of the thunderstorms that develop near the Gulf Coast will be capable of producing hail and damaging wind gusts on Tuesday and Tuesday night.

The strongest of these storms may even produce a small number of waterspouts and tornadoes.
For the latest severe weather watches and warnings, check with the AccuWeather.com Severe Weather Center.
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On Wednesday the risk of strong to locally severe thunderstorms will focus on areas from much of the Florida Peninsula, northward to southern Georgia.
A few brief showers may linger over the region on Thursday, but in large, Thursday looks to be a dry day for the Southeast.
Dry weather is also expected to carry over into the weekend and even extend up into the Tennessee and Ohio valleys, good news for those planning on attending Saturday's Kentucky Derby.
Anyone with outdoor plans earlier in the week may want to consider moving their plans to Thursday or Friday when the weather will be more favorable for outdoor activities.
A trailing cold front associated with the storm system will mark an end to the heat that has been building from the Florida Peninsula to Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

The storms could threaten the Orlando area on Wednesday, when Nik Wallenda is planning to walk atop a moving giant Ferris wheel.
According to AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, "Showers and storms associated with the front will bring cooling to the region, followed by less humid air in its wake."
"The same front will bring needed rainfall to parts of Central America, Cuba and the Bahamas as it moves along and begins to stall," Sosnowski said.
April has been a particularly wet month across the Southeast due to several slow-moving storms that soaked the region over the past several weeks.

City	April Rainfall
Mobile, AL	13.01"
Lake Charles, LA	11.27"
Gulfport, MS	10.64"
Slidell, LA	10.07"
Birmingham, AL	9.89"
Pensacola, FL	9.37"

Table shows rainfall totals in inches from April 1, 2015 through April 26, 2015.
This has left the ground saturated with water, meaning that it does not take as much rain to cause flooding issues as it normally would.
Mobile, Alabama, has been one of the wettest cities in the entire country this month from the series of storms, recording over 13 inches of rain.
This is nearly three times higher than their normal rainfall for the month of 4.79 inches.
According to the National Weather Service, there are still dozens of river gauges across the Southeast that are in either minor flood stage or near flood stage.
These numbers will likely rise through the middle of the week as the rain causes rivers and streams to rise and fill their banks.
Those that live along the immediate banks of rivers and streams should take action now to protect their property before any flooding occurs.