by Jonathan Bales
October 25, 2023
- An upper-level low pressure system is tracking across the southwest.
- It will get a boost from the moisture of former Hurricane Norma and the moisture of the Gulf of Mexico.
- Drought areas in the central United States will benefit from rainfall due to this setup.
Drought-helping rains in the central United States this week will get a boost from residual moisture and energy from former Hurricane Norma in the eastern Pacific.
No – the hurricane will not reach the lower 48 anytime soon.
Instead, some deep tropical moisture will be drawn northward into the region along with some residual circulation provided by Norma itself.
Norma and Gulf moisture will help fuel precipitation in the central United States.
Norma hit Mexico's southern Baja California Peninsula on Saturday as a Category 1 hurricane. Its remains have since moved inland.
An upper-level low pressure system drilling into the Southwest early this week will help pull Norma's moisture, as well as moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, northward across the Plains and upper Midwest.
Parts of West Texas and Oklahoma have the best chance at some high precipitation rates. Two to five inches of rain could fall in this area. More than an inch of rain is possible from southwest Texas to the upper Mississippi Valley through Thursday.
This may not be the end of the wet weather. Computer model guidance indicates that disturbed weather may continue into the following week, but these details will need to be known in the coming days.
Precipitation should be beneficial for most locations. Moderate or worse drought continues in pockets from Texas to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Some in this area are experiencing a deficit of between 6 and 12 inches so far this year.
However, if heavy rain falls very quickly, we cannot rule out some localized flooding.
The Weather Company's primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment, and the importance of science in our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
