Late-week storm poised to bring flooding rain to southern Plains

Renee Duff
·2 min read

After first soaking Southern California and Arizona, a slow-moving storm will bring both wet and wintry conditions to a portion of the central United States late in the week.

One round of heavy to locally severe thunderstorms swept through the region on Tuesday night prior to the storm's arrival.

A brief lull in wet weather is expected across the region around midweek before storminess returns late Thursday through Friday.

"Rain can fall heavily at times late this week, especially over portions of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said.

The soaking rain will set up to the north of where precipitation is most needed in Texas. The latest United States Drought Monitor shows severe to extreme drought ongoing in much of South Texas.

Instead of Laredo and McAllen, Texas, getting a needed soaking, Oklahoma City and Dallas are likely to be on the receiving end of rounds of rain.

"Periods of heavy rain can lead to ponding or even minor flooding of major roadways in the area, including portions of interstates 30, 35 and 40," Gilbert said. "This may cause significant slowdowns for many traveling in the area."

Travel via the air can also be impacted by the wet weather.

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How widespread or significant flooding concerns become will depend on whether a press of dry air from the north suppresses rainfall for a time at the end of the week.

On the northwestern flank of the storm system, enough cold air is expected to be in place to bring accumulating snow to portions of the Front Range and central Plains.

At this time, AccuWeather meteorologists are favoring a wetter solution and at least a localized threat for flooding. In addition, embedded thunderstorms that can turn locally damaging are possible.

Heavy rain could continue across portions of northern Texas and across Oklahoma to start the weekend as well. As the weekend progresses, the most favorable zone for heavy rain will translate eastward into portions of the flood-wary South.

Looking ahead to next week, multiple storm systems are expected to bring additional rounds of rain and thunderstorms, increasing the flood threat across many of the same areas.

Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.