Northeast faces rounds of drenching storms into August

Good news for gardeners and farmers, but bad news for outdoor enthusiasts and construction workers as showers and thunderstorms will increase over the Northeast in the coming days.

After a dry weekend, surges of more humid air combined with other factors will lead to rounds of showers and thunderstorms this week in the northeastern United States, AccuWeather meteorologists say.

The downpours and storms may hamper some outdoor plans and trigger localized urban and flash flooding. The rainfall may also ease drought conditions in some areas.

Breezes from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, as well as a couple of dips in the jet stream, will bring about a wetter pattern in the Northeast into the weekend. The same jet stream setup will lead to rounds of severe weather, mainly in the Central states.

While a coastal storm brought 1-3 inches of rain to part of New England and less than 0.10 of an inch to New York City on Monday, downpours will expand over the Northeast in the coming days.

During Monday night, slow-moving thunderstorms dumped 8.04 inches of rain on the St. Johnsbury, Vermont, area, which caused flash flooding on the Passumpsic River.

The downpours may also be intense enough to cause flash flooding in parts of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys and the Appalachians into Wednesday night.

Rainfall of 1-4 inches is likely with locally much higher amounts. Where 1-2 inches of rain falls in as many hours, the risk of flash flooding will be the greatest.

As the pattern evolves into midweek, parts of the central Appalachians and New England may experience similar rainfall to that of the Tennessee and Ohio valleys.

Since no major area of high pressure from Canada is moving in after midweek, the air will remain humid enough to support at least pop-up showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon on Thursday.

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At the end of the week and during the weekend, with the moist air lingering, more numerous showers and thunderstorms will occur.

It may take until Sunday before enough dry air mixes in from the Great Lakes to end or reduce the shower threat over the Ohio and Tennessee valleys and much of the Northeast.

Next week, a tropical feature currently approaching the small islands of the eastern Caribbean will have to be watched for possible strengthening and a close encounter with increasing impacts in the southeastern U.S.

Some locations of the Northeast have done very well in terms of rainfall over the past week and have made up for month-long deficits. However, there are also some locations where only 25% or less of the historical average rainfall for July has occurred through Monday.

The rain-starved towns and cities include Harrisburg and York, Pennsylvania; Winchester, Virginia; Belmar, New Jersey; Frederick, Maryland; and Clarksburg, West Virginia. In these locations and others, any non-flooding rainfall will be welcome.

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