Soaking rain to spread across drought-stricken South

AccuWeather

A gathering storm packing heavy rain will douse a swath of the southern United States later this week, including areas that are experiencing severe drought.

Transcript

00:00 Well, enjoy the sunshine.

00:01 I suppose if you live in Texas,

00:03 OK all the way back through the Southeast.

00:06 It has been a warm and sunny stretch,

00:08 and today we're just adding to the tally.

00:11 Look at this 85 in Jackson today,

00:13 83 with some sunshine by the

00:15 afternoon in Little Rock, Atlanta,

00:16 8283 in Jacksonville, Houston, 86 degrees.

00:18 I think you get the picture and well,

00:21 this is amazing for your outdoor plans,

00:23 especially if you happen to love the heat.

00:25 I wouldn't call it amazing for the drought.

00:28 We have had problems with the drought

00:30 in the southern states for months

00:32 and you can see look Texas.

00:34 It was considerably worse about three weeks ago.

00:37 Then we got some big time rain in the

00:39 middle of October helped to chip away

00:42 at drought conditions, but none of

00:44 that rain reached Louisiana.

00:45 That dark charcoal color is where we

00:47 do have exceptional levels of drought.

00:49 That's the highest level,

00:51 but know that there is some relief on the way.

00:54 Is it going to get rid of the drought?

00:57 Is it going to help?

00:58 We end up with our next storm driving

01:00 rain across the Gulf Coast from the

01:03 Rio Grande Valley down toward Corpus

01:04 Christi out toward Houston Shreveport.

01:06 You can see that dark green where the

01:08 heaviest of rain will most likely fall,

01:10 but even the rain itself all the way

01:12 back through the Tennessee Valley

01:14 on Thursday and Friday.

01:15 Want to mention the Tennessee Valley

01:17 also incredibly dry in drought

01:18 conditions at the moment.

01:19 Now it's good and bad, right?

01:21 This rain is going to be helpful.

01:23 Let's watch future radar here.

01:24 Future rainfall, I should say,

01:25 looks like coloring in the lines here,

01:27 but that heavy rain just to the east

01:29 of I-35 in East Texas up toward Texarkana

01:31 and back toward Little Rock.

01:33 I am concerned that that could bring

01:35 the potential of some localized flash flooding.

01:37 We've seen this scenario before, right?

01:39 Even in October when we had that

01:41 beneficial rainfall flash flooding

01:42 was a problem across Central Texas.

01:44 I think it's a similar setup here

01:46 in the fact that heavy rain will

01:48 fall on drought stricken ground.

01:50 That drought stricken ground

01:51 almost acts like cement.

01:52 The water doesn't seep in right away,

01:54 and that's how flash flooding

01:55 happens really quickly.

01:56 But again, it's long term benefit.

01:58 The long term gain for the short term pain.

02:01 Just make sure in the meantime

02:02 you're being very careful,

02:03 especially heading out in the

02:05 roads Thursday and Friday.

02:06 Into the weekend we have more rain

02:08 with the front that's going to be

02:10 bringing rounds of showers,

02:11 even some heavy rain at times

02:12 back across the Gulf Coast.

02:14 And all of that's going to keep

02:16 temperatures lower as well.

02:17 Say goodbye to the 80s.

02:18 We're back to the 60s in Dallas

02:20 in Austin, OK City, Little Rock,

02:22 and hey, look at Shreveport.

02:24 78 degrees on Saturday afternoon.

02:25 Get ready for a big switch

02:27 in the weather pattern.

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