Nate to unleash heavy rain, threaten urban flooding across Northeast Monday

Nate will unleash a soaking but heavy rain across the Northeast Monday, raising the risk for flooding across the region.

After making two landfalls along the central Gulf Coast Saturday evening and early Sunday morning, Nate will track across the central Appalachians and New England Sunday night through Monday night.

While Nate will be in a weaker state, it will still be packing plenty of tropical moisture that will fuel heavy rain across a region that has been on the edge of drought conditions over the past couple of weeks.

“For some areas, Nate will bring the biggest rainfall in six to eight weeks or longer,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

Nate will bring plenty of wet weather Monday for many cities in the Northeast including Rochester and Albany New York; Allentown and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and areas from New York to Boston. Those heading outside will need the umbrella or a rain jacket.

Nate will bring a general 1 to 3 inches of rain to the Northeast, but there can be locally higher amounts closer to 4 inches in the Appalachians of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The swath of heaviest rain in the Northeast is expected across the interior.

This amount of rain will fall over a 6- to 12-hour time frame in most areas which should make the rain more beneficial than troublesome.

“As long as the bulk of the rain does not occur in a couple of hours, the ground should be able to soak up the water with few problems,” Sosnowski said.

However, pockets of heavier rain can occur and bring rainfall rates of an inch per hour which will lead to isolated urban and flash flooding.

Travel delays typical of most rainstorms are expected Monday into early Monday night.

Motorists will need to be on alert for flooded streets and roadways. Alternative routes may need to be taken to avoid such issues.

“Some flooding will be possible, especially in areas where fallen leaves clog drainage systems,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Rob Miller said.

Wet leaves can also produce slippery conditions for motorists and pedestrians, so extra caution should be used when encountering them. Oil buildup in roadways due to the lack of rain recently can also surface and lead to slippery travel.

A sharp gradient from dry to wet conditions will exist to the southeast of the storm track. Some areas in the mid-Atlantic may not receive much rain.

Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph will be possible across the mid-Atlantic to southern New England Monday night into Tuesday. The strongest gusts are more likely along the coast.

Rain will quickly come to an end by late Monday evening across most of the Northeast. However, it will continue along the New England coast from Maine to Cape Cod but will move out to sea by early Tuesday morning.

Areas across the interior Northeast where the sky is able to clear Monday night will have to deal with fog.

In the wake of Nate, high pressure will temporarily build in across the Northeast on Tuesday bringing dry conditions. However, a storm system will arrive Wednesday and Wednesday night with another round of wet weather.