Mid-South Meteorology: Heavy Showers/Storms Tonight-Thursday & Tropical Storm Headed Toward Florida

We're looking at the possibility of more heavy showers and storms possible Wednesday night through Thursday, with locally heavy rainfall totals of 1-2 inches possible. All of this on ground that is already pretty saturated. This could add to the flooding problems along the Mississippi River, where it's supposed to crest Thursday at 13 feet above flood stage. That crest could go higher as more rainfall enters the system. Here are the latest river stages for the lower Mississippi and Ohio Rivers.

The situation is not nearly as troublesome for Paducah, where the Ohio River should crest well below flood stage, however we'll keep an eye on local runoff with these showers. The problem for the major rivers is the amount of water entering the Mississippi River near and above St Louis. Mississippi River crests at New Madrid and Tiptonville are actually expected below flood stage, but of course, we'll see how much additional water is put into the system with these showers and storms.

It's been a WET year so far. We're running almost 10 inches ahead of normal since January 1st for precipitation, and a whopping 20 inches above where we were at this time last year as we were heading into the worst part of the drought!

Once this front finally passes Thursday night into Friday, it'll set the stage for a cooler and somewhat drier weekend. We'll have a chance for showers and storms returning Sunday Night.

Meanwhile, our first tropical storm of the season has formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Tropical Storm Andrea is expected to make landfall in Florida on Thursday!