Storms to Drench East Coast, Deep South Into This Weekend

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist

August 20,2015; 10:34PM,EDT

 

 

While a push of dry air will make steady progress through the Appalachians and interior South this week, downpours will linger along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts this weekend.
The downpours will bring the risk of flash and urban flooding and can cause travel delays, but they will also quench the dry landscape and replenish lawns in some areas.

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According to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, the influx of moisture into the coastal areas will generally keep high temperatures to the 80s F or lower, but humidity levels will remain high.
"It may seem very close at times for some people through this weekend as a result," Abrams said.
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Through Friday, the corridor of drenching showers and locally strong thunderstorms will push eastward and southward. The main threats from the storms will be flash and urban flooding.

Cities that can be clobbered with travel-disrupting downpours prior to the end of the workweek include Boston; New York City; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Richmond, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; Atlanta; Birmingham, Alabama; Jackson, Mississippi; Lafayette, Louisiana; and Houston and Brownsville, Texas.
The storms suspended all activities for the opening day of the Little League Baseball® World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. By Friday, the rain will have pushed east of the central Appalachians and the Susquehanna Valley.

By Saturday, most areas from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., on west to the Mississippi River will be basking in sunshine with low humidity.
However, coastal cities from New Orleans to Jacksonville, Florida, and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Portland, Maine, may not be so fortunate. These areas will be in the swath of lingering moisture and the potential for spotty, but very drenching downpours through the weekend.

The weather describing the coastal areas in the Northeast may be something like murky, misty and muggy during much of the time this weekend.
While it could be rain-free enough to head to the beach, golf course or ballgame, people should be prepared to run for cover when the downpours come calling.
According to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, "While it probably only rains a small part of the time in the coastal areas of the Northeast this weekend, when it does rain it can be quite heavy and disruptive."

There is a chance the humid pattern with downpours expands westward over much of New England and part of the mid-Atlantic, rather than just hovers along the coast this weekend. In this case, it could shower as far to the north and west as Baltimore; Scranton, Pennsylvania; Albany, New York; Burlington, Vermont; and Caribou, Maine.
During early next week, a system from the Midwest may make enough progress to kick out the downpours in the East.
"The spotty showers from one pattern in the East could be replaced with showers from the Midwest system," Abrams said.