Pouring rain combines with melting snow for dangerous flood risk on the East Coast
A lot of moisture is being released all at once on already saturated ground throughout the East Coast, creating a dangerous situation.
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00:00 The biggest storm by far is the one in the eastern US.
00:03 We want to talk to AccuWeather chief meteorologist,
00:05 John Porter, about that.
00:07 And John, we have a tremendous amount of moisture,
00:10 especially for this time of the year,
00:12 moving up into the northeast.
00:13 And for some, you've got a foot of snow
00:15 on the ground from the weekend.
00:16 So what are we concerned about?
00:18 Well, the big concern here is major flooding
00:20 across parts of the east.
00:22 And AccuWeather meteorologists have been
00:24 stressing this for several days.
00:26 Look at this volatile setup here in terms
00:29 of the deep amount of moisture that's
00:32 being drawn up in the coast here in terms
00:34 of these yellows and oranges.
00:35 And look at where it comes from, all the way back
00:38 to the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
00:41 This is actually an atmospheric river
00:43 that's transporting this high octane air, very rich
00:47 in moisture, all the way up the eastern seaboard.
00:49 This is why we're so concerned about such an unusual weather
00:53 pattern here resulting in this dangerous flooding.
00:58 Just in the northeast, some of us
01:00 saw 8 to 10, 12 inches of snow this morning
01:03 in parts of the Laurel Highlands.
01:05 But now that's changed over to rain for many.
01:07 Some are still holding onto the snow farther north.
01:09 But overall, as all that moisture
01:11 moves into the Poconos with some significant snowpack,
01:14 what are we expecting?
01:16 Well, that's the big issue.
01:17 Because as the band of heavy rain
01:19 denoted in these yellows and oranges
01:22 slowly moves its way to the east,
01:25 it's going to be encountering that area
01:26 from northeastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, Hudson
01:31 Valley of New York up into southern New England
01:34 with that significant snowpack.
01:35 So we're going to have melting snow going on at the same time
01:39 that rain is pouring from the sky.
01:41 That's going to be coming down at the rate of 1 to 2 inches
01:44 per hour, too fast, too furious.
01:46 And that's why we're really concerned
01:48 about that flash flooding.
01:49 And some of these river flooding situations
01:52 are going to be on the increase.
01:54 And even those who may not have significant snow on the ground,
01:57 maybe in areas around the Long Island Sound, for example,
02:00 we had a tremendously wet month of December.
02:03 So the ground is pretty saturated as well.
02:06 That's such a key point.
02:08 The ground is saturated all across the Northeast
02:10 from Maine all the way down to Baltimore and Washington.
02:13 And so that means that as the rain falls or the snow melts
02:17 or the combination of both, there's
02:19 nowhere for the soil to absorb any of that moisture.
02:22 It's just going to run off and flood.
02:23 That's why we're talking about the risk
02:25 for significant flooding along and inland of the I-95
02:29 corridor.
02:30 And Jeff, here at AccuWeather, we've
02:31 been constantly stressing that tomorrow morning,
02:34 the Wednesday morning commute is going to be treacherous.
02:37 People may not be able to get to work and school
02:39 as they normally do because of the combination
02:42 of flooded roadways.
02:43 Some of it will be significant and perhaps
02:45 downed trees blocking the roads, as well as power lines
02:48 from all the gusty winds.
02:50 So download the AccuWeather app.
02:51 Turn on push notifications.
02:53 This is a major event here in the East tonight
02:56 and first thing tomorrow.
02:57 Stay safe.
02:58 All right, thank you for that, AccuWeather chief meteorologist
03:00 John Porter.
03:01 And a quick look at the tornado threat farther south.
03:03 We have three separate tornado warnings in progress right now.