Major storm brings flash flooding threat, heavy snow in central US

A large storm over the central U.S. is bringing a range of weather issues, from flooding rain and severe weather to heavy snow in the Rockies. The wintry part of this system continues to wind down as the storm itself weakens over the Plains.

All winter weather alerts have now been canceled.

However, the threat of very heavy rain continues for parts of the South with the potential of significant flash flooding impacting portions of Louisiana in the coming hours. The cold front associated with this storm system is triggering heavy rain across parts of Louisiana and extreme southeast Texas where Flood Watches are in effect for cities such as Lake Charles and Alexandria, Louisiana, and Beaumont, Texas.

While the snow in the Rockies is wrapping up, the dig-out continues after an early season snowstorm brought more than three feet of snow to portions of New Mexico. Angel Fire, New Mexico, picked up 40 inches of snowfall in 36 hours. Las Vegas, New Mexico received 31.7 inches of snow from this storm, breaking their all-time record snowfall of 27 inches in 1958.

Denver, Colorado, ended up with 20 inches of snow, making this their biggest November snowfall in over 40 years and third largest November snowfall on record.

While this was a high-impact, major snow event for portions of the Denver Metro Area, including the south and east sides of the city, which also includes where the official observation site for the city of Denver is located, Denver International Airport.

Downtown Denver and west/north portions of the metro area saw much lower totals and impacts with snow totals generally closer to 8 to 14 inches.

Rafael feeds flood threat

There is a High Risk for flash flooding for parts of southern Louisiana. In this region, widespread flash flooding is likely with the potential for a few significant flash flood events. Parts of Louisiana could see over 3 to 6 inches of rain through Saturday night.

Tropical Storm Rafael continues to rapidly weaken as it churns over the central Gulf of Mexico this weekend. Maximum sustained winds are now down to 50 mph. It is forecast to dissipate by the end of the weekend bringing no additional direct impacts. Some of the tropical moisture associated with Rafael is being pulled northward up along a cold front that is associated with the storm system over the central U.S., enhancing the rainfall.

Rafael is also bringing rough surf and dangerous rip currents to portions of the Gulf Coast this weekend.

What’s left of this storm system will continue to sweep east this weekend, bringing much-needed rain up across drought-stricken areas of the Ohio Valley and Northeast over the next 24 to 48 hours.

A swath of 1 to 2 inches of rain is forecast across the Ohio Valley, however, the rain totals will decrease once the system reaches the Northeast. The rain will begin to sweep across the Northeast on Sunday afternoon, from west to east.

The I-95 corridor into New England will see the bulk of the rain Sunday evening into Sunday night. Rain totals will be less than half an inch, generally around a quarter inch in many locations. This will be the first day with measurable rain in many cities in more than a month.

While this rain will not put a dent in the drought, it will soak the ground and lower the fire danger for the time being.

Wildfire risk

Ahead of this much-needed rain, gusty winds and very dry conditions continue to impact a large swath of the Northeast this weekend. The greatest fire danger is for areas still under a Red Flag Warning, which includes portions of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island until 6 pm. ET on Saturday.

The extremely dry conditions will keep the fire danger elevated for many surrounding areas.

Air Quality Alerts have been posted for parts of northern New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, and all of New York City until 11 p.m./midnight ET tonight as multiple wildfires and brush fires continue to burn in the region spewing lots of smoke in to the air.

The relatively smaller nature of the fires keeps the greatest smoke impact concentrated over more localized areas. Driving a few miles in a different direction could greatly impact how much smoke is in the air.

In the West, while there are several dangerous wildfires still burning, weather conditions have improved enough to limit fire growth this weekend across California.