We are preparing for another round of wet weather on the Gulf Coast. A Flash Flood Watch has been issued for the area for Wednesday night through Thursday morning. Locally heavy rain is expected Wednesday night into Thursday morning as a combination of factors come together over the region.
A few scattered storms have been popping up in association with energy from a storm that brought severe weather and tornadoes to Oklahoma on Monday night. These storms will continue to randomly pop up across the area this evening but should diminish some tonight as daytime heating decreases. A stronger storm will eject out of the southwest United States and a strong jet stream aloft will combine to give us a decent chance for rain, some of it heavy Wednesday night into Thursday morning. 2-3" of rain is possible with locally higher amounts by Thursday morning. The severe weather threat does not look particularly high, but some storms may contain, hail, damaging winds and an isolated tornado. Instability will be the main question for Wednesday evening, as clouds throughout the day Wednesday may keep heating from the sun low. The southern branch of the jet will intensify Wednesday night with winds over 150 mph and we will be in a favorable area of the jet to produce strong lift. Also, winds splitting apart aloft (upper level divergence) will lead to strong upward motion in the atmosphere, one of the ingredients you need for locally heavy rainfall.
Dry weather moves in by Thursday afternoon with sunshine and breezy conditions. Highs will reach the mid and upper 70s on Thursday, then turn a little cooler behind a cold front on Friday into the weekend. Saturday and Sunday will see temperatures in the 60s during the day and 40s at night. It stays dry through the middle of next week.
Chief Meteorologist Derek Beasley
