Slow-moving Gulf Coast storm to drench Houston to Tallahassee, Florida

Inches of rain will pour down this week along the Interstate 10 corridor of the southeastern United States as a rainstorm creeps along with localized flooding and ends up along the Atlantic coast by the weekend.

The same storm that dumped heavy rain on parts of Texas during the Labor Day weekend will drift eastward across the Gulf Coast region this week and bring enough rain to trigger localized flooding and travel delays, AccuWeather weather meteorologists say. By the weekend, the storm will reach the Atlantic coast.

Over the holiday, 2-8 inches of rain poured down on portions of central Texas and part of the Texas coast. Galveston picked up 6.62 inches in 96 hours as of Tuesday morning. Drought-stricken areas from Del Rio to San Angelo and Midland were drenched with 3-4 inches of rain as the center of the storm moved inland.

As of Wednesday morning, the center of the broad area of low pressure had relocated right along the southern Texas coast. AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring it for tropical development over the next few days.

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Regardless of tropical organization, the storm will spread torrential rainfall eastward this week as it creeps along. A general 2-4 inches of rain will fall with local amounts to 8 inches possible. Motorists along the Interstate 10 corridor from eastern Texas to Florida should be prepared for downpours that can restrict visibility and lead to ponding on stretches of highway and secondary roads that drain poorly.

Showers and thunderstorms lingering over central Texas will gradually diminish into Wednesday evening, but highly localized flash flooding can still occur.

The same pattern is conducive for a few waterspouts to form in coastal areas.

By Thursday, the focus of the downpours will be along the central Gulf coast, especially from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. However, some locally heavy rain may extend inland to near Interstate 20 as well. Part of this area has become substantially dry, with pockets of severe to extreme drought in recent weeks.

From Friday to Saturday, the main heavy rain zone will focus on northern Florida, the southern portions of Alabama and Georgia and the South Carolina coast.

Should a consolidated area of low pressure develop, possibly even a tropical depression, then locally gusty winds and severe thunderstorms may accompany the rain in some cases.

The same storm system will merge with a dip in the jet stream to bring locally heavy rain to the Northeast this weekend.

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