Rain in forecast all week
Published 4:23 pm Monday, February 18, 2019
LANETT — As the colder temperatures of winter begin to break, heading into the early parts of spring, the Greater Valley Area will be inundated with rainfall for most of the week.
Daniel Martin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Birmingham, said after the sunshine Monday, there will be multiple weather systems headed into the area from the west. According to forecasts, there will be widespread rainfall through the week, with the heaviest system coming into the area Wednesday night into Thursday.
“We are going to have a front that will come through Wednesday night into Thursday and it will kind of stall out,” Martin said. “We will have rainfall for several days.”
He said accumulation levels throughout the state could be anywhere from three to eight inches, but in Chambers County, there is a potential of about one and a half inches to two inches of rain. Martin said it could be higher, depending on how hard it rains during that time.
Although the area is expected to see steady rainfall, Martin said he doesn’t expect much flash flooding in the Greater Valley Area. However, river flooding will need to be monitored throughout the state.
“All that rainfall from Birmingham and north is going to make its way down south,” he said.
The water runoff could cause some gradual rises in the Chattahoochee River, causing it to reach caution stage, but he doesn’t think it will reach flood stage.
“At this point, I don’t believe we have rivers in that area forecasted to rise above flood stage,” Martin said. “But, as we get into that event, see how it unfolds and see what kind of rain we get, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of those rivers rise to caution.”
Severe weather isn’t expected, either, Martin said. The systems moving in Thursday and Friday afternoon, provide a potential for some thunderstorms, but it’s not likely to reach severe levels, he said. However, the forecast could be revised as the week progresses.