Heavy rainfall from the Desert Southwest through the Southeast is expected to persist through Labor Day weekend, with NOAA’s Weather Prediction Center warning of the risk of excessive rainfall and isolated flooding.
Flash Flood Warnings were in effect across parts of Louisiana and Mississippi on Friday morning.
The precipitation, which has been impacting the region for several days, is associated with a slow-moving frontal boundary and multiple waves of atmospheric energy that have sparked showers and thunderstorms.
Communities in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama face the risk of seeing the heaviest rainfall continue into the weekend, with some totals possibly reaching 3 inches or more in the hardest-hit areas.
A Flash Flood Watch was issued for about a million residents of the Ark-La-Tex region along Interstate 30, east of Dallas and southwest of Little Rock, Arkansas.
A Level 2 out of 4 flash flood risk was issued by the WPC through Friday afternoon from eastern Texas, through Louisiana and southern Alabama.
The National Weather Service warned that “excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations.”
Forecasters also cautioned that enough instability remains in the atmosphere to allow some storms to become severe, producing hail and damaging wind gusts. However, it is the flood threat that has them most concerned as widespread rain chances remain high throughout the weekend.
The wet weather zone includes much of the Interstate 10 corridor from New Mexico through Florida.
The corridor will not only be busy with beachgoers hoping to enjoy the final weekend of meteorological summer along the Gulf Coast, but also with fans heading to some of the first college football games of the season.
Any thunderstorm also carries the risk of cloud-to-ground lightning, which poses a significant danger during outdoor activities.
Lightning can strike up to 12 miles away from a storm, though there have been documented cases of bolts striking nearly 25 miles from a storm.
According to NOAA, lightning kills about 23 people in the U.S. each year and injures hundreds more.
Data from the National Lightning Safety Council shows that fishing remains the leading outdoor activity associated with lightning fatalities.
Other activities such as boating, camping, cycling, and yard work follow closely behind.
In 2023, more than 240 million lightning bolts were detected across the country, according to global technology company Vaisala, with the odds of being struck at about 1 in 1,222,000.
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