Dry streak ending with heavy rain today and potential flooding

The WBZ Weather team is issuing a NEXT Weather Alert for periods of heavy rain in the forecast for Massachusetts on Friday.

It has been nearly three weeks since Boston recorded any measurable rainfall, the longest streak in two years. And wouldn't you know it, we are in for quite a deluge in parts of southern New England.

Flood watch

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch through early Saturday for all of southeastern Massachusetts, except for Nantucket.

This is largely for localized street and poor drainage (urban) flooding.

If rainfall totals were to exceed 4-5" then some river flooding could occur.

In addition, the Weather Prediction Center has highlighted a large part of southeastern Massachusetts. with a "slight risk" of excessive rainfall on Friday.

When will it rain on Friday?

Friday morning will be fairly dry in most of the area with the exception of far southeastern Massachusetts. There is likely to be an initial band of downpours over parts of the South Coast and Cape Cod around daybreak.

The heavier rain will push northward by midday and throughout Friday afternoon with scattered downpours across all of eastern Massachusetts.

The heaviest will exit the coastline late Friday night. Most of southern New England will be left with mainly cloudy skies and few scattered showers on Saturday.

How much rain?

There is potential for 2-4" of rainfall underneath the heavy band that forms. There may even be as much as 4-6" in isolated locations.

The highest risk for several inches of rain is across southeastern Mass., including southern Plymouth and Bristol counties as well as Cape Cod and the Islands. The Boston area will be on the edge of the heaviest rainfall.

Areas to the north and west of Boston are likely to receive less than an inch of rain and in some cases very little rain at all.

In the short term, there are some things you can do to prepare, just in case your neighborhood receives flooding rainfall on Friday.

There are certainly a lot of leaves on the ground, and some drains may be clogged or covered.

Also, if your basement is prone to flooding, it would be wise to check your sump pump.

Stay tuned to updated forecasts on WBZ-TV and WBZ.com