Flooding to threaten over a dozen states across eastern US early next week

By Andy Mussoline, Meteorologist

February 13,2016; 11:18PM,EST

 

 

Heavy rain will raise the risk of flooding across more than a dozen states in the Southeast on Presidents Day to the East Coast on Tuesday.
The flood threat will initially target the metro areas of Nashville, Tennessee; Jackson and Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama, on Monday.

Rainfall will total 1-3 inches across many areas over a 6- to 12-hour period. In addition to the flood threat, severe thunderstorms will threaten the lower Mississippi Valley.
The strongest thunderstorms will be capable of producing damaging winds and isolated tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Blinding downpours and ponding of water could dangerously reduce visibility and lead to hydroplaning along interstates 20, 55, 10, 59, 85, 40 and 75. Flash flooding could force officials to shut down some local roads.

The heavy rain will then sweep into Atlanta, Tallahassee, Florida, and Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday night.
Following a period of snow and ice, rain will drench parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast late Monday night into Tuesday morning and New England on Tuesday afternoon.
Commuters who travel along the Interstate 95 corridor, from Washington, D.C., to New York City and Boston, may face slow travel conditions and long delays on the roadways during Tuesday. Delays at the airports are possible as well.
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"Tuesday's rainfall will be the first significant rain event for most of the I-95 corridor since Jan. 10," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek said. "The hardened, frozen ground will contribute to the amount of runoff and flooding."
In most cases, flooding will occur in localized low-lying and poor-drainage areas along with smaller streams in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
"The threat for ice jams in the larger rivers will not be significant threat since the rain and accompanying warmup will be so brief," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.

In addition to the risk of flash flooding, strong onshore winds will pile water up along the coast and create a coastal flood threat from the Carolinas to New England Monday night into Tuesday.
A powerful storm tracking from the Southeast to the Appalachians will be responsible for the torrential rain. There will be enough cold air on the northern and western side of the storm to bring a widespread snow and ice threat to the East.
The storm will depart the Northeast on Tuesday with another system arriving from the Midwest on its heels. This system from the Midwest will have to be monitored for returning nuisance to disruptive snow to the central Appalachians and Northeast at midweek with fresh cold to follow.