Rain to Soak, May Bring Urban Flooding to Gulf Coast at Midweek

By Brian Lada, Meteorologist

February 24,2015; 9:15PM,EST

 

 

People across the Deep South will be reaching for their umbrellas and raincoats during the middle of the week as heavy rain impacts the region.
This rain will be brought by a low pressure system sliding along the Gulf Coast, and eventually pushing off the Atlantic Coast of the Southeast.

Urban and low-lying area flooding can occur as the storm taps into an abundance of warm, moist air readily available in the Gulf of Mexico.
The storm will produce the heaviest rain from southeastern Louisiana, eastward to the Florida Panhandle, northeastward to southern Georgia and the Carolina coast. Anywhere between 1 and 3 inches of rain can fall in this zone with lesser amounts farther west.

Drenching rain will begin to develop Wednesday evening over parts of the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
The rain will reach into southern Georgia by Wednesday evening before advancing northward into the Carolinas on Wednesday night.
The cities of New Orleans; Gulfport, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; Tallahassee and Jacksonville, Florida; Albany and Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston, South Carolina, will all be at risk of flooding from this storm due to up to a few inches of rain forecast to fall in just a 24-hour period of time.
Some thunderstorms may be embedded in the shield of rain as it tracks eastward, but are not expected to produce widespread severe weather.
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Anyone planning to travel across the Southeast on Wednesday or Wednesday night should anticipate delays, especially for those taking to the roads.
Torrential downpours can cause water to pond on roadways, resulting in slowed traffic and potential lane closures.
Hydroplaning may become an issue as well during the downpours. If you find yourself driving during one of these blinding downpours, you should drive slowly and allow extra space in-between you and the vehicle driving in front of you.
Know when the rain will start at your exact location by using AccuWeather MinuteCast®

Dry weather will return to a majority of the Gulf Coast for Thursday as the low pressure system tracks off the Atlantic Coast of the Southeast. However, snow will fall over the Carolinas during the start of the day before tapering off.
This could result in heavy accumulating snow for cities such as Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, and Richmond and Norfolk, Virginia.
AccuWeather.com meteorologists currently believe that the storm will track out to sea before any winter weather reaches cities such as Philadelphia or New York City, but this could change if the system tracks just a few hundred miles farther north. A bit of snow could fall as far north as Washington, D.C., with up to a few inches possible in southeastern Massachusetts.
Be sure to check back with AccuWeather.com throughout the week for the latest information on this storm and the rain and snow that it will bring.