Excessive Rainfall Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
347 AM EDT Tue May 26 2026
Day 2
Valid 12Z Wed May 27 2026 - 12Z Thu May 28 2026

...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF EXCESSIVE RAINFALL ACROSS THE EASTERN
HALF OF TEXAS, PORTIONS OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI VALLEY, AND AREAS
OF THE OHIO VALLEY TO CENTRAL APPALACHIANS...

...Texas to Lower Mississippi Valley...

The broad upper level evolution occurring upstream over the
Southern Plains will continue to shift east with the large scale
forcing driving into the eastern half of TX leading to heavy rain
prospects over the eastern portions of Hill Country, the I-35
corridor and much of east TX, including the middle and upper TX
coastal areas on Wednesday. Environmental conditions for heavy
rainfall are most favorable along the TX and LA Gulf coast areas
with a corridor of elevated theta_E's aligned from Corpus Christi
up through the Lower Sabine to about 100 miles inland. The setup is
contingent on the behavior of the convective pattern upstream into
the central portion of the state and the migration of the
thunderstorm complex exiting out of I-35. The general consensus is
the maxima for precip will likely occur in proximity to the same
areas that were hit within the past week; the area along the upper
TX coast from Houston up to Lake Charles. This is very well defined
within the probability fields in both the HREF and the AIFS-ENS
where >3" is likely (60-90%) within the confines of that zone with
the HREF even signaling modest >5" potential (40-60%) in that same
zone. There's still some uncertainty in the behavior of any
mesoscale complexes that end up materializing from all the
convective development the previous evening and if they cause any
significant shifts in the potential. In this case, this leads to a
broad SLGT risk with a MRGL risk encompassing over the Southern
Plains to Lower Mississippi Valley as broad upper forcing will
likely spur scattered convection all across areas from western KS
down through OK in the setup. Areas away from east TX and the Lower
Mississippi will have more isolated heavy rain prospects,
comparatively, so the threat remains elevated in the SLGT risk
within these particular locations.

...Ohio Valley...

Conditions will become increasingly favorable for heavy rainfall
across the Ohio Valley going into Wednesday from a multitude of
features that will ultimately couple into something more formidable
during peak diurnal instability. Sheared vorticity stemming from
previous period convection will likely settle over the central Ohio
Valley with a west to east bisecting quasi-stationary front
positioned just north of the Ohio River basin. A sweeping trough
exiting out of Ontario will help tighten an axis of confluence
across the Midwest and Ohio Valley by Wednesday afternoon, enticing
a squeeze of the thermal gradient and regional instability axis
that aligns with the frontal placement. Destabilization by the
afternoon hours will lead to scattered to widespread thunderstorm
initiation along the boundary with convective episodes likely to
spawn heavier cells capable of hourly rates between 1-2"/hr as PWAT
anomalies sit firmly within +2 standard deviations above climo.
Previous periods of rainfall in the last three to four days have
really brought down the areal FFG markers for all 1/3/6 hour
thresholds with a vast majority of places along the Ohio River
basin and points north running <1"/hr in the hourly exceedance
indicator. This points to any heavier convective impacts could
cause issues with the remnant soil moisture and hydrologic
concerns that are lingering after the last event. This is
especially true for eastern OH, southwest PA, and western WV where
complex topography only exacerbate the potential in these zones.
3-hour FFG exceedance probabilities from the 00z HREF are between
20-40% for a large portion of eastern IN through the southern half
of OH into southwest PA with a maxima of 40-60% located across
northwest WV between US50 and WV7. Considering the antecedent
conditions and expected widespread convective regime along the
front, a SLGT risk was added for an increasing threat for flash
flooding Wednesday.

Kleebauer


Day 2 threat area: www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/98epoints.txt