Another days-long stretch of soggy weather is plaguing the Southeast, raising fears of flash flooding and washing out another precious summer weekend along its popular beaches.
A powerful cold front that brought deadly flooding to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast is sliding south into the Southeast over the weekend, where it will essentially park into next week.
There is even a low chance of the front spawning some tropical development in the Atlantic, or along the Southeast coast, or even back toward the Gulf Coast, depending on favorable atmospheric conditions.
“It’s a boundary over warm sea-surface temperatures,” FOX Weather meteorologist Ian Oliver said. “If it hangs around too long, it’s going to have a chance at developing at least some tropical characteristics.”
However, the chances of tropical development remain low.
Regardless, the front has tapped into plenty of tropically infused moisture, and heavy downpours are expected across the Southeast.
Rainfall totals could reach 2 to 3 inches in many areas, with isolated amounts of 3 to 5 inches possible, according to the FOX Forecast Center.
NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center has placed a swath of the Carolinas at a level 2 out of 4 flash flood risk through Friday, shifting to coastal Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday.
The coastal Carolinas and the mountains of western North and South Carolina have the greatest risk of getting more than 3 inches within a six-hour period.
That includes cities like Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and Wilmington, North Carolina.
FOX Weather meteorologist Bayne Froney noted that ponding had already started near her location in Wilmington on Friday morning after just 20 minutes of rain.
Flooding driven by tropical downpours has been a common theme in the weather pattern for the Southeast over the past month.
Chantal made landfall on the South Carolina coast in early July, and two other tropical disturbances have moved across the Southeast since then.
The flooding threat decreases Sunday into the workweek, but the forecast remains generally wet.
