Projected Thunderstorms and Rainfall to Continue in the South, Say Meteorologists

A risk of ongoing thunderstorms was warned to continue across the South within the week, according to AccuWeather meteorologists. The dangerous pattern suggests slow-moving and repeating thunderstorms 'could unload torrential rainfall'.

Floods are expected to occur to local areas and could evolve into more threatening pattern in the next days. The overall weather pattern reports 'busier than the average summertime pop-up thunderstorms' for the Southeastern states and a portion of the South-Central states as of Monday night.

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"The combination of steamy air, a stalled frontal zone and cool air in the middle levels of the atmosphere will make for perfect ingredients to generate showers and thunderstorms over and over again," AccuWeather Chief On-Air Meteorologist Bernie Rayno said. ""It is rare to have a southward dip in the jet stream in July in the South, and it is that subtle jet stream dip that is producing the cool air aloft," he added.

As the cool air aloft allows clouds to reach tens of thousands of feet into the atmosphere, the more rain will be produced.

Weak Winds Bring Very Slow-Moving Storms

The weak winds which typically steers in late July could bring very slow-moving storms. This means repeated and prolonged downpours on some communities within a day. Reports forecast a storm focusing over the Interstate 10 and 20 corridors from eastern Texas to the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida much of the week.

AccuWeather Local StormMax^TM projects 3 inches of rain may fall resulting to many hours of downpour or less in the heaviest storms. For instance, areas in the Meridian, Mississippi were rained down with 3-inches rain that continuously poured for four hours, Monday morning.

This level can cause flooding in streets, highways and low-lying areas. Other nearby locations could experience the least damage.

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Enhanced Danger in Many Areas

The persistent downpours that could last through much of this week shows dangerous patterns in many areas, according to AccuWeather forecasters. Problems could be felt across the region such as overflow of small streams along banks, resulting to likelihood of major interference with outdoor plans and daily commutes.

On the other hand, signs suggest relief may be felt on some parts of the area later in the week. "The pocket of cool air aloft may split and allow an area of high pressure to build over the northwestern part of the Gulf Coast."

"The southwestern migration of the cool air aloft and associated storm may be enough to turn off the atmospheric faucet from the Texas coast to part of Louisiana," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson said.

As long as air stays cool aloft, heavy storms may continue to hit, particularly in central Texas and perhaps farther to the north and east from Alabama to Georgia, the Carolinas and Florida.

On the bright side, the soil moist brought by repeated thunderstorms hold back temperatures in the region, wherein more of the sun's energy is used up in evaporation, rather than heating the ground.

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