Relentless Rain to Raise Flooding Risk From Texas to Tennessee

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist

November 27,2015; 10:37PM,EST

 

 

Several days of heavy rain will bring the potential for significant flooding from the southern Plains to the middle Mississippi Valley into early next week.
Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Pacific Ocean will converge on the South Central states through Monday. Some of the moisture from the Pacific will be associated with Sandra.

Storm Continues to Blast Southern Plains

Into the first part of the weekend, heavy rain will extend from the southern Plains to the Midwest.

However, the core of the heavy rain will settle over the South Central states later in the weekend.
From central Texas to southeastern Oklahoma, northern and western Arkansas, southern Illinois and the western parts of Tennessee and Kentucky, an average of 3-6 inches of rain will fall into Monday.

There is the potential for a foot of rain from north-central Texas to north-central Arkansas through the weekend.
As downpours repeat on the same areas for multiple hours over multiple days, the risk of flooding will expand from urban and poor drainage areas to small streams and finally to along some of the rivers.

Before heading out to your favorite retailer this year, take a look at the AccuWeather MinuteCast® for a minute-by-minute forecast of precipitation type and intensity for your exact location.

Unprotected low-lying areas along some of the major rivers in the region could take on water. This includes portions of the Red River and its tributaries in northeastern Texas and Southeastern Oklahoma, where levels may reach major flood stage.
Some roadways may become submerged by waters. Low water crossings may be too dangerous to drive through.
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When traveling by vehicle in the zone of heavy rain, never drive through flooded roadways. Doing so may put not only you and your occupants at risk, but also your would-be rescuers.
The persistent rounds of torrential rain may also have significant impact on major airport hubs in the region, including Dallas, St. Louis and Nashville.

Heavy rainfall in recent weeks has the ground saturated in much of the region. In many cases, it may only take a couple of inches of rain in a day's time to cause significant flooding.
In Dallas, 2015 is already the wettest year on record with 55.23 inches of rain as of 7:00 a.m. CST, Friday, Nov. 27. The prior wettest year on record was in 1991, when 53.54 inches of rain fell.
Additional rain will fall on the Dallas metro area into Sunday and during December which will push the record even higher.