When will the rainy weather end in the northeastern US?

By Alex Sosnowski, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist

May 4,2016; 9:10PM,EDT

 

With the return of wet weather in the Northeast, many people are asking: When will the rain go away?
Up until last week, much of the Northeast needed rainfall. Stream levels were dropping. Ground water tables were receding. Brush fires were springing up in multiple states.
Since then, the weather has done a 180-degree turn with rounds of rain and drizzle in many areas for days. Topsoil has gotten soggy, fields are muddy, large puddles are everywhere and stream levels have stabilized.
For those wanting to get outdoors in the sun, bask in warmth or just resume outdoor projects that require multiple days in a row of dry weather, it will be a while until another extended period of dry weather sets in.
Repeated rounds of showers and thunderstorms will spread across the Northeast through the weekend.
Localized flooding could develop.
"Any time rainfall events are bunched together on a daily basis, the risk of flash flooding increases substantially," according to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams.
Into Thursday, the risk of flash flooding is greatest from south-central Pennsylvania to parts of western Maryland, western Virginia and the mountains of West Virginia. Several inches of rain could fall in a few hours time.
While it will not rain everywhere during every day into the weekend, days of sunshine and warmth will be infrequent in many places and non-existent in some locations.

In fact, wet snowflakes may fall on the highest elevations of the central and southern Appalachians later this week.
"An atmospheric traffic jam or block will set up across the nation this week," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski.
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"One wet pattern will be replaced by another wet pattern through the middle of May in the Eastern states," Pydynowski said.
A pattern change will promote less rainy days in the East by next week, but not totally rain-free.

"We expect the atmospheric block to break down by early next week, which will allow weather systems to resume their typical west-to-east motion," according to AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
"However, this also means that moisture from the Pacific Ocean will travel across the nation to the Eastern states."
Instead of it raining nearly every day or multiple times a day, it may rain every one out of every two or three days in the mid-Atlantic during the middle part of May. The rain-free period may last longer in parts of New England.

Pastelok stated that as a consolation of the wet weather, most nights will be mild.
"Cloud cover and moisture will greatly limit or eliminate the risk of frost in the traditional late-season chilly spots through the rest of the month," Pastelok said.
Gardeners who brave the mud may be able to get to do some planting with only a night or two of frost and protective measures before the traditional planting time around Memorial Day weekend.