A Break For Soaked Texas and Oklahoma Has Arrived (FORECAST)

Linda Lam
Published: May 31,2015 



 
For a large majority of the Southern Plains, a drier weather pattern has finally arrived after weeks of flooding rainfall. The last of the old regime has finally been swept out of deep South Texas, but not before Brownsville broke its all-time May rainfall record Sunday.
(INTERACTIVE MAP: Latest Flood Alerts)

Flood Watches and Warnings

Five-Day Forecast

A cold front plunged into the southern Plains this weekend, and the jet stream is finally making a northward migration. This will allow drier, more stable air aloft to take hold in the Southern Plains.
While this wouldn't be strong enough to inhibit all thunderstorms, we think thunderstorm coverage should be much less, with a much lower threat of flash flooding in the week ahead in Texas and Oklahoma. In essence, an extended period of mainly dry conditions is likely for most of Texas and Oklahoma in the week ahead.
(FORECAST: Houston | Austin | Dallas | Oklahoma City)
Instead, next week's thunderstorm clusters may target the northern and central Plains, roughly from Kansas or Nebraska northward.
Though the soaking weather pattern has finally ended, officials in parts of Texas have warned that river flooding could last for weeks as some areas have seen more than 20 inches of rain during May. Several cities and two states have seen their wettest month on record.
(MORE: Record May Rainfall)

Recap: Flooding Over the Past Week

Early Friday morning a flash flood emergency was issued for portions of the Dallas metro area, where multiple water rescues are occurring and travel has become impossible in some areas. Just northeast of Dallas rainfall amounts of 4 to 6 inches were reported from early Thursday morning to early Friday morning.
(MORE: Dallas Area Flash Flood Emergency)
Flash flooding was also reported Thursday in parts of Oklahoma and Texas. A flash flood emergency was issued in Lawton, Oklahoma.
On Wednesday, mudslides were reported near Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas panhandle, evacuations were prompted in the Fort Worth suburb of Blue Mound, numerous streets were flooded in Great Bend, Kansas, and early Wednesday, another round of soaking rain descended into Houston, just 24 hours after a massive flood event brought parts of the Houston area to a halt.
(MORE: Jaw-Dropping Images | Houston Flood vs. Allison)
Widespread flash flooding also occurred in Austin this past holiday weekend. Shoal Creek was just one of many creeks and rivers that came out of its banks and flooded the area Monday afternoon.
Memorial Day weekend flooding also swamped Wimberley, Texas and several locations in Oklahoma.
(MORE: Catastrophic Flooding)
MORE: Southern Plains Severe and Flooding May 2015 (PHOTOS)