Bertha’s gone, but its moisture isn’t. Southeast remains on alert for flash floods

Bertha has faded, but moisture associated with the former tropical storm is fueling a flood threat that could still linger into the weekend for some.

Bertha dissipated over Texas on Thursday evening, where it had little impact other than locally heavy rain, including around Houston.

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The system may have more impact further east, where the moisture cloud is caught in a slow-moving front. This front has now moved from slow moving to stagnant, and rainfall is locked in parts of the Southeast.

Storms picked up steam in northern Alabama and Georgia Friday afternoon, dropping 1 to 2 inches of rain, prompting several flash flood warnings including Birmingham, Alabama and Atlanta.

Flood risk Level 2/4 extends from the Carolina coast to inland areas as far as Sumter, South Carolina, and Fayetteville, North Carolina.

The region needs rain to relieve widespread severe and extreme drought, but if it falls too quickly (5 inches or more per hour) it can cover dry ground.

Rainfall totals can reach 4 inches or more in some spots; For some, this accounts for the majority of a month’s rainfall. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina averages 5.40 inches in July.

Other parts of the Southeast may also experience heavy rainfall that may trigger some flooding on Saturday. The Level 1/4 flood risk covers a wide area from western South Carolina to the lower Mississippi Valley.

Bertha’s effects this week

The flood threat has been present since Wednesday, when moisture from Bertha began flowing in earnest into Southeast and Southern Virginia. On Wednesday morning, storms caused flash flooding north of Knoxville, Tennessee, after dropping up to 5 inches of rain in several hours.

Flash flood warnings were issued in North Carolina, including Greensboro and Winston-Salem, on Wednesday night as severe storms dropped up to 6 inches of rain – a month’s worth. — within 12 hours. There were no reports of floods from the region, where severe drought and prolonged rainfall rather than heavy rainfall have alleviated the threat.

Flooding Thursday morning temporarily closed a short section of Interstate 40 northwest of Durham, North Carolina. state department of transportation.

As for Bertha, she’s been mostly a pain in the ass this week Along the Gulf Coast, from the Florida Panhandle to Texas.

Unfavorable winds in the atmosphere kept the tropical storm unstable; its heaviest rain and strongest winds were over the Gulf rather than on land. Hazardous beach conditions and minor coastal flooding were the main impacts along the northern Gulf Coast.

Bertha made first landfall in southeast Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon. Wind speeds of over 40 miles per hour were measured at New Orleans Lakefront Airport.

The storm then moved further west along the Louisiana coast and made landfall for the final time near the Texas-Louisiana border on Thursday afternoon.

Bertha was the second storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which has started slowly compared to recent years. As El Niño tightens its grip on parts of the basin.

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