Friday has finally brought some much-needed, steady rain to the region. While our totals won't be as significant by the time the rain moves out as other parts of the country, any rain is beneficial given our ongoing drought. Let's look at what systems are bringing this rain, where some of the highest rain totals have been over the past couple of days, and where we could see some of the most rain Friday through next week.
One of the systems that is bringing a lot of tropical moisture to the area is the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur. The storm formed in the northwestern Gulf earlier this week, and it briefly was a tropical storm before quickly moving inland and weakening. Even with weak tropical systems, though, they can still produce widespread heavy rainfall leading to flooding concerns. They can also cause isolated tornadoes and brief damaging wind gusts. All of these impacts were seen across the southeast this week.
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We also have a cold front that brought strong to severe storms across parts of the upper Midwest through the Ohio Valley and is working through the region and providing the lift for showers and some storms to develop.
These two different systems can clearly be seen with the storm reports. There's one swath of reports (from the remnants of Arthur) that stretch from the central Gulf Coast all the way into central North Carolina. The other swath of reports stretches from Iowa and Missouri all the way into Virginia (from the cold front).
You can also see two swaths of rainfall totals. The streaks of pink and red through the Ohio Valley are from the cold front where some spots saw one and a half to four inches of rain over the past couple of days. The other swath is to the south where parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and northwest Florida. That is from the remnants of Arthur.
Check out some of these totals along the central Gulf Coast. One location in Louisiana received 18+ inches of rain. There have been significant flooding issues in this region over the past few days.
Some spots have already see one to two inches of rain across our area, and over the next week we could see an additional inch and a half to two inches. Bring it on.
