Severe storms, extreme heat and a weekend flood threat
By Derek Van Dam and Michael Guy, CNN Meteorologists
Everything is bigger in Texas — but these forecast weekend rainfall totals are super-sized.
Rainfall totals in Southeast Texas and Coastal Louisiana could exceed 10 inches, creating more misery for regions hit hard by recent flooding.
Record May rainfall has left the soil saturated and river levels high, meaning any additional precipitation could trigger more floods.
Wettest May on record sets the stage for more flooding
The threat doesn’t stop in Texas. Heavy precipitation will revisit Coastal Louisiana, a location that can’t seem to catch a break from the rough weather.
Between May 16-22, a weather reporting station south of Lake Charles, Louisiana, tallied over 21 inches of precipitation, while Baton Rouge saw a staggering 15 inches during the same period. Victoria, Texas, received 20.28 inches of rain during the month of May, eclipsing the previous record of 14.66 inches in 1993. With even more rain in the forecast for these hard-hit areas, the same locations will once again face the threat of flooding.
“This next episode of active weather could result in some flooding issues,” said a forecaster from the National Weather Service in Houston, stating that “Flash Flood Watches may be issued later this week.”
Double digit rain totals possible this weekend
Currently, the low pressure responsible for the inevitable soaking is located over the northern Baja of California and will cross into northern Mexico today.
By Friday, it will cut off from the general flow of the atmosphere and meander near Southwest Texas. By that time, it will be perfectly positioned to utilize the warm ocean waters and feed bands of rain into the coast.
South Texas looks to get most of the initial rain through Friday with 1-3 inches forecast across the region, but as you move toward San Antonio and Austin, rainfall amounts will increase.
“By the time the weekend is over, widespread accumulations of 2-6 inches are possible all across Southeast Texas, with localized areas into the double digits,” said CNN Meteorologist Michael Guy. Although it’s difficult to predict the exact locations, the greatest flood potential will occur where bands of rain continually move over the same area. This is also referred to as the “training” of storms.
The low pressure will finally move away from the region and dissipate early next week allowing for a drying trend by Tuesday or Wednesday.
