Over 150M face dangerous, weeklong flood threat across 30+ states fueled by powerful Pacific tropical systems
Significant rain targets drought-stricken Texas by late week, setting up a dangerous flash flood threat.
Over 150M face dangerous, weeklong flood threat across 30+ states fueled by Pacific tropical systems
A dangerous weeklong flash flood threat will spread from the Southwest into the Plains and Midwest, eventually stretching from Texas to Minnesota and putting more than 150 million people at risk as moisture from Hurricane Polo and Tropical Storm Rachel fuels intense thunderstorms.
THE TAKEAWAY
- Flood Watch covers 12 states, with more expected over the coming days.
- Tropical moisture from Hurricane Polo to fuel the flood threat across the Southwest and Central U.S. through Wednesday.
- Moisture from Tropical Storm Rachel will fuel the flood threat across Texas, the Southern Plains and the Midwest late Wednesday through Friday.
- Nearly 80 trillion gallons of water could fall this week, potentially enough water to fill over 122 million Olympic-sized swimming pools.
A dangerous weeklong flash flood threat will spread from the Southwest into the Plains and Midwest, eventually stretching from Texas to Minnesota and putting more than 150 million people at risk as moisture from Hurricane Polo and Tropical Storm Rachel, churning in the Pacific, fuel intense thunderstorms.
A Flood Watch currently covers 12 states, with more states expected to be added in the coming days.
A large dip in the jet stream will pull moisture from these tropical systems north throughout the week, bringing thunderstorms capable of producing lots of rain in a very short amount of time.
Flash flooding was seen Monday across parts of southern Nevada, as moisture from the remnants of another tropical system, Odalys, saturated the ground ahead of more heavy rain this week. Roads in Laughlin experienced debrisflows. Roads were also flooded in Crownpoint New Mexico.
This comes amid an active monsoon season across the Southwest, which has seen deadly flooding across parts of New Mexico and Grand Canyon National Park.
Tuesday's flood threat targets 33M across the Southwest and Central Plains
Heavy rain will build through the day on Tuesday across much of the Four Corners, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and parts of the Central Plains.
The remnants of Hurricane Polo, which made landfall in Baja California early Tuesday morning, will rush into New Mexico, bringing wind gusts between 50 and 60 mph in addition to intense rain.
Widespread power outages are possible.
Tuesday flash flood threat. (FOX Weather)
A Level 3 out of 4 flash flood risk covers over 230,00 square miles across parts of southern and eastern Arizona, much of New Mexico, southern Colorado, the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and southwestern Nebraska.
If this was a state, it would be the third largest in the country behind Alaska and Texas.
Tuesday flash flood threat. (FOX Weather)
Wednesday's flood threat stretches from Minnesota to the Texas-New Mexico border
The flood threat is expected to peak on Wednesday and Thursday as moisture from Tropical Storm Rachel adds more fuel to the ongoing storm pattern.
The Level 3 flood threat will shift over Oklahoma and Central Texas, where storms could potentially produce up to 3 inches of rain per hour.
A separate Level 3 threat zone covers southern Colorado and extreme northern New Mexico.
Flash flood threat (FOX Weather)
Dallas, which has not seen measurable rain since July 16, is in the path of a significant flood threat, with the dry ground unable to absorb much water.
Dallas forecast (FOX Weather)
Oklahoma and Texas will remain in the center of the flash flood threat which will gradually begin to shift eastward through the end of the week.
Check back for updates on this developing story.