Fortunes are changing in the South, where an an extremely dry autumn left several states in a severe drought. The lack of rain has devastated farms and helped fuel hundreds of wildfires. But the rains have started to return in the past week, and a couple systems are bringing more soaking rains to much of the southern U.S. early this week.
The first round began Saturday and Sunday. While the wet weather is welcome in places such as Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia, it was too much of a good thing for parts of southeast Texas and Louisiana, where several locations picked up more than five inches of rain this weekend, leading to localized flooding.
But more rain is on the way. While there will be lulls of dry weather mixed in, multiple systems developing off an upper level low will bring more rain Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday to much of the South. Once the last of the rains move off the Carolina coast Tuesday evening, most locations will have picked up at least one inch of rain, while much of Alabama, Georgia, eastern Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina are likely to receive multiple inches of rain. And some of the heavier, more persistent bands of rain could drop as much as seven inches in localized areas. With the exceptions of Louisiana and Texas, the good news is many of these places getting significant rain are in areas most desperate for water from the heavens.
The rain could also make for some messy commutes Monday and Tuesday in Atlanta, Houston, Montgomery, Birmingham, Mobile and Pensacola. Localized and flash flooding will be possible, but any flooding will be somewhat mitigated by the dry soils, which will be able to absorb more water than usual. There will also be a slight chance for a few severe storms Monday along the I-10 corridor between New Orleans and Pensacola.
You can stay up to date on your forecast and rainfall for your area by downloading the Morecast app in the App Store and Google Play.