Heavy
Rain Forecast
Through Wednesday, the combination of the front and Lee's remnant low will produce a large swath of 6 to 10 inches (yellow shading on map below) of rain from the Deep South to the central Appalachians, with locally higher amounts. A much larger area extending into the Northeast has the potential to see 2 to 6 inches (green shading below).
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Timeline
Through Tuesday, soaking rains will spread from the Tennessee Valley into the Appalachians and parts of the Mid-Atlantic region as Lee's remnant low and the front combine.
Patchy areas of locally heavy rain may linger in parts of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, still saturated from Irene's soaking rain just last weekend.
Below is a look at the timing of the most significant rains each day through Wednesday.
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Met
101: Why is this happening?
As Lee continues to move inland and weaken, moist tropical air will meet up with a frontal system arriving from the Midwest and Northeast. This is a setup seen time and time again in Eastern floods this time of year.
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Ingredients
for Eastern flood threat
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Two other factors deserve mentioning here. First, this heavy rain will be falling in mountainous terrain, heightening the threat of flooding, even though streamflows have been running low in the southern Appalachians.
Flood watches now extend from the Deep South to Maine. You can see the flood watches in the blue shadings on the map at this link.
Conversely, after a record or near-record wet August, coupled with Irene's heavy rain, the ground in the Northeast is very saturated. Any additional heavy rain will simply runoff into creeks, streams and rivers, not to mention the typical flooding in urban areas.
Lee's Flood Threat Expands
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Oleh
Agus Prasetyo
