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.
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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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