Rounds of heavy rain to threaten parts of central US with river flooding, travel disruptions into early week

By Courtney Spamer, AccuWeather meteorologist

The risk for severe weather will continue this weekend and again early this week across the southern and central Plains while at the same time, heavy rain will threaten an area farther north.

Areas from the central and northern Plains to the Upper Midwest will be on the receiving end of rounds of heavy rainfall into Tuesday.

Heavy, steady rain on the northern side of the main system could be too much for streets, drainage systems and rivers to handle.

In the short term, torrential rain will cause ponding on roadways, especially in low-lying areas, which could lead to travel disruptions on the roadways. Minor airport delays could also be possible.

Long-term, this next wave of heavy rain could be even more significant.

"In the end, some places will be measuring the rain in yards, instead of feet," said AccuWeather Lead Storm Warning Meteorologist Eddie Walker.

A wide swath of 2-4 inches of rain is expected from the Texas-Oklahoma border to Wisconsin and Minnesota from the weekend through Tuesday.

During this time, two separate storms will end up bringing in this heavy rain. The first storm moving through the Plains into Sunday will bring the heaviest rain from northeastern Kansas and Missouri up to the Great Lakes. The second storm will emerge from the Colorado Rockies on Monday, bringing heavy rain to Oklahoma and Kansas before the rain spreads northward into the Missouri and northern Mississippi river valleys.

The stretch from Oklahoma and eastern Kansas to southeastern Nebraska could end up with half a foot of rain from Monday morning through Tuesday evening. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 10 inches of rain is likely to occur in this zone as well.

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"It is conceivable that parts of the Plains and Upper Midwest may receive 12-18 inches of rain during the second half of May alone," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.

Initially, the major rivers are likely to handle the rainfall with little impact. Most rivers in the region are receding and a large number of points along the river are likely to have water levels dip below moderate flood stage this week.

But eventually, the same waterways that overflowed with water earlier this spring could once again rise above flood stage.

Communities in these areas have already had more than their normal amount of rainfall so far this spring.

Minneapolis has had 7 inches of rain since the beginning of April, where a more normal value would be around 5 inches.

Kansas City, Missouri, totaled 3.59 inches of rain from the start of May through May 17, 126 percent of through the first half of the month.

Oklahoma City reached 5 inches of rain through mid-May, which is already more than the normal amount of rain the city receives in the entire month.

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