Persistent rounds of rain return to eastern US for second half of week

By Becky Elliott, AccuWeather.com Meteorologist

May 9,2016; 10:24PM,EDT

 

 

The second full week of May will start off on a much drier note across the Northeast. However, this dry spell will be short-lived, with a wetter pattern returning by the end of the week.
For many cities across the region, the amount of rain that has fallen in the past week exceeds the amount of rain that fell during the entire month of April.
This complete turnaround from abnormally dry weather to above-normal rainfall has been good for vegetation, increasing the soil moisture and stabilizing the unusually low levels on streams and rivers.
Rainfall this spring could be an important factor to avoiding significant drought this summer, with hotter and drier weather in the forecast.
While the rain is good for helping ease drought conditions, it can be a nuisance to those who live in the East.
A moisture-laden storm is expected to traverse very slowly across the eastern third of the country starting on Thursday and continuing into the weekend.

"Residents along the Eastern Seaboard will be hard-pressed to find more than a couple days in a row of completely dry weather over the next week or two," AccuWeather Meteorologist Bill Deger said.
Rain boots, umbrellas and rain coats will be necessary items to have on hand for the latter part of the week, through the weekend and even into next week.
Rounds of showers and thunderstorms will plague this area through at least mid-May, Deger added.
These rounds of rain and storms will be the result of an unsettled weather pattern that develops over the region.
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"Rainfall amounts of an inch or so could fall from Boston to Philadelphia Friday and Saturday," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said.

"While this is not enough rain to cause any flooding issues, the rain could still come down heavily at times and cause standing water on roadways in low-lying or poor drainage areas, " Pydynowski said.
Warm, springlike temperatures combined with the moisture from this pattern will trigger some thunderstorms, especially south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Dangerous lightning, gusty winds and hail could be threats from those storms.