Heavy Rainfall Threat Across the Eastern US

A strong cold front will continue to slowly push east today, providing a focus for showers thunderstorms from the Great Lakes to southern Texas. While severe thunderstorms are not expected, heavy rainfall is likely, with scattered flash flooding possible, especially from the Tennessee and lower Ohio valleys northeastward across Lower Michigan. An area of low pressure moving north along the front is expected to strengthen as it tracks through the Ohio Valley into the Great Lakes Wednesday into early Thursday — producing breezy conditions and additional heavy rains. Heavy rainfall accumulations are likely, with scattered flash flooding possible from Lower Michigan and northern Ohio into the upper Ohio Valley and along the central Appalachians.

Meanwhile, moist onshore winds north of a stalled frontal boundary over the Southeast will support additional heavy rains, with scattered flash flooding possible across portions of the Carolinas and the southern Appalachians on Tuesday. Heaviest rainfall amounts on Tuesday are expected to occur along the South Carolina and southeastern North Carolina coasts, as well as along the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. Additional heavy rains are expected across the mountains as the front moves through on Wednesday, before drying out as the front pushes east of the region on Thursday.

Elsewhere, high pressure and dry conditions can be expected through midweek across much of the Great Plains and western U.S. Above-normal temperatures along the West Coast on Tuesday are forecast to spread east, with much of the western half of the country expected to see seasonal to above-normal temperatures on Wednesday. One exception will be the Pacific Northwest, where a cold front will drop through, bringing cooler temperatures into the region on Wednesday.

READ MORE at wpc.ncep.noaa.gov