Rounds of heavy rain and flooding threat expected throughout Memorial Day weekend

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - Scattered showers and thunderstorms will become more widespread and numerous this afternoon as the atmosphere heats up and the next disturbance rotates through the region.

The atmosphere is loaded, with high moisture levels for late May, and any storm that fires up this afternoon has the potential to drop a quick one to two inches of rain in a matter of minutes.

Low-lying neighborhoods that already struggle with drainage need to stay on alert, because if cells repeat over the same streets, flooding will not wait for anyone.

This pattern is not a one-day story. A series of upper-level disturbances is riding through a persistent southwesterly flow, with each impulse arriving roughly every 18 to 24 hours and reloading the storm threat each afternoon and evening.

Highs will hold in the mid 80s with overnight lows near 70, but do not let the comfortable numbers fool you. The rain is the story, with the potential for a flood watch to be issued over portions of the area in the coming days as the rounds stack up.

Most of southeast Louisiana and south Mississippi can expect at least three inches of rain through the next five to seven days, with some spots potentially seeing double or even triple that total.

The Memorial Day holiday weekend is shaping up to be a wet one from start to finish. The active pattern carries straight into next week, with afternoon heating continuing to trigger convection each day as additional disturbances develop and push downstream.

The main concern through the entire stretch is water, specifically where it collects and how fast it rises.

Keep the Fox 8 Weather Authority app close and stay weather-aware throughout the holiday.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Click Here to report it. Please include the headline.

Subscribe to the Fox 8 YouTube channel.