Beneficial rain on the way this week for drought-stricken parts of the south

We started May with an upper-level trough parked over the Great Lakes, which was responsible for the spell of below-average temperatures we’ve seen across much of the eastern U.S. in recent days.

The trough will reload (so to speak) over the next few days as a ridge of high pressure builds over the Gulf of Mexico. Several areas of low pressure will develop along the boundary between these two features, giving rise to widespread rainfall and a risk for severe thunderstorms at times.

Forecasters with the Weather Prediction Center expect a couple of inches of rain across a wide swath of the Southeast through the end of the week, with more than 3 inches of rain possible through portions of southern Mississippi, northern Alabama, and northern Georgia.

This is great news for a region that’s been socked in a worsening drought for months now. Last week’s update of the United States Drought Monitor showed 94.85% of the Southeast in a severe drought or worse.

It’s worth noting that there’s a decent chance for notable precipitation (both rain and snow) for much of Colorado, where extreme drought conditions are developing hand-in-hand with a record-low snowpack across the state.

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