The nation's weather
A very moist airmass was forecast to fuel more active weather in the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday.
The remnants of Tropical Storm Nicole and the elongated low pressure trough over the East were expected to continue drawing tropical moisture northward across the region. This steady flow of deep tropical moisture would interact with low pressure moving along a frontal boundary located along the Mid-Atlantic coast to produce moderate to heavy rainfall and thunderstorms. Areas along and just west of these disturbances would receive the heaviest amounts of rain. Periods of heavy rainfall would have the potential to produce 4 to 8 inches of rain through early Friday morning. Some isolated spots might pick up as much as 10 inches, forecasters said. Showers were expected to spread northward into New England through the afternoon and evening hours. Significant rainfall totals over these already heavily saturated areas might produce minor to moderate flooding, life-threatening flash flooding and road closures from areas of the Carolinas through areas of southern Maine. In addition to rain, areas from eastern North Carolina through the Mid-Atlantic might experience severe weather activity with damaging wind gusts and a few tornadoes.
Behind the activity in the East, calmer weather was expected across the rest of the nation. Slight cooling would develop near much of the West Coast as the ridge of high pressure over the region shifted to the east. Inland areas would continue to experience above normal daytime highs. Meanwhile, moist flow from low pressure to the west of Baja California might cause desert and mountain storms in Central and Southern California. Finally, seasonably cool weather would develop in the Plains.
Temperatures in the Lower 48 states Wednesday ranged from a low of 21 degrees at Charleston, Nev., to a high of 113 degrees at Death Valley, Calif.
The Associated Press