HOUSTON – The South is experiencing a severe drought and desperately needs rain. While long-term relief requires consistent precipitation, any amount of rainfall is helpful.
We’re getting some of that help as a cold front slides across the region late this week, the FOX Forecast Center said.
“The rain moves in later tonight,” FOX Weather Meteorologist Britta Merwin said on Thursday morning. “It’s really going to be picking up tomorrow (Friday), and we have a good potential here of several inches of rain for southeast Texas between now and early next week with the drought conditions in place.”
With tropical moisture from the Gulf of Mexico rolling in ahead of the cold front, any rain developing over Texas will become widespread later Thursday and spread east into Thursday night.
“Today’s (Thursday’s) rain is really Hill Country and North Texas later tonight,” Merwin said. “Tomorrow (Friday), it shifts down to the coast, and then it really does hug the coastline. The Gulf Coast will be the focus point.”
The rain will shift east with the cold front on Friday, with showers expected from the Southeast into the southern and central Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic, the FOX Forecast Center said.
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Rain of varying intensity is expected along the cold front as it works across the southern U.S. through Friday. Even though the rain may become heavy at times, flash flooding is not expected since the soils are so dry from the lack of rainfall.
A significant amount of rain between 2 and 5 inches is expected across a wide area in southern and southeastern Texas into the weekend. However, other areas such as Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia – also in dire need of rainfall – have a chance to receive it in the next few days.
“For Houston, it’s an extended period … all the way through the beginning of next week,” Merwin said. “So if we can spread it out, that lowers the flash flood threat, which I do think is on the low end. I’m not too worried about it.”
Houston experienced its 10th driest summer on record, while New Orleans had its second-driest summer, which could lead to a higher risk of wildfire spread due to the significant rainfall deficit.
“And that’s already what we’re battling in Louisiana,” Merwin said.
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“This weekend, we continuously have this moisture that’s streaming into the Gulf Coast states, so this really could be great news for Louisiana,” Merwin said. “They will have much lower rain totals than what we’re going to see in Texas, but at this point, we will take anything we can get.”