By AccuWeather senior meteorologist
Published Aug. 17, 2020 10:33 AM
The hits will keep on coming for areas of the northeastern United States that have been hammered by round after round of rain and gusty thunderstorms. Forecasters expect locally heavy and gusty thunderstorms to erupt across hard-hit areas on Monday and Monday evening as the first of two weak pushes of cooler and less humid air settle in from the Midwest.
The setup on Monday is marginal for severe weather in the Northeast, but some of the storms can become briefly severe at the local level.
"The main threat from the storms will be wind gusts that can approach 60 mph in a few communities," according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Isaac Longley.
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Any thunderstorm can also bring brief downpours, and since the ground has been so wet, runoff can be greater in grassy and wooded areas than usual for the middle of August.
This image, captured on Monday morning, August 17, 2020, shows building clouds over the Appalachians ahead of a push of cooler air from the Midwest. (NOAA / GOES-East)
"The threat of flooding is not especially high with this particular setup, and if it were not for the prior rainfall in much of the area where the storms will be, it might not be a concern other than in urban areas due to the extent of paved and concrete surfaces," Longley said.
Cities such as Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., have received three to five times their normal rainfall during the first half of August. Philadelphia typically picks up 1.88 inches of rain through Aug. 16, and Washington, D.C., received an average of 1.59 inches through the same date. But, so far, Philadelphia has picked up 7.75 inches, and 6.08 inches has fallen on Washington, D.C. Meanwhile, Richmond, Virginia, has picked up a whopping 14.84 inches of rain during the first half of August, compared to its normal 2.45 inches.
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And while rain keeps pelting the I-95 corridor and coastal areas of the mid-Atlantic, interior areas from the central Appalachians up through New England are in the grips of abnormally dry or drought conditions, according to the United States Drought Monitor. Locations in the region that are in need of rain, include State College, Pennsylvania, and Boston -- both of which have picked up about only one-third of their average rainfall since early July.
Still, the conditions pale in comparison to the severity of the drought in the West, which is contributing to dozens of large active wildfires.
Forecasters urge those who lie in the path of storms to remain vigilant of rapidly changing conditions and to be sure to move indoors at the first rumble of thunder as lightning can reach out miles away from a thunderstorm without notice.
Motorists are reminded never to attempt to drive through flooded areas. Water could be deeper than it appears and can cause vehicles to stall. In some cases, roadways can be washed away beneath the water.
Additional showers and thunderstorms are likely in the mid-Atlantic and portions of New England on Tuesday and the mid-Atlantic on Wednesday.
While downpours can be spotty in nature on Tuesday, rainfall may ramp up in parts of the mid-Atlantic during the middle of the week as the northward extension of the wet pattern in the Southeast develops.
Even though most of the cool air will be pent up in the Midwest, some of that air is forecast to reach the Appalachians and filter into coastal areas of the Northeast as well.
Temperatures most days of this week are likely to be no higher than average, and some days can be a few degrees below average. Normal highs range from the middle 70s F in northern Maine to the upper 80s in southeastern Virginia. Nighttime lows range from the middle 50s in northern New England to near 70 around the Chesapeake Bay.
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