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Heavy rain, flooding possible through Thursday

Posted at 9:45 AM, Sep 06, 2016
and last updated 2016-09-06 09:45:24-04

WEST MICHIGAN-  After several days of dry, cool, and less humidity in West Michigan, we’ll be right back on the active weather pattern that has led our rivers and streams to become more swollen in recent weeks.

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A slow moving cold front to our northwest is moving into a moisture rich environment with a gulf moisture flow ahead of it.  This will be fuel for slow moving, very heavy rainfall that will “train” over the same places repeatedly over several hours.

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Conditions already setting up for flood watches on the other side of the lakeshore, and it’s possible we’ll see similar conditions here in West Michigan Wednesday into Thursday.

RPM 1 (2)

A few scattered showers will arrive overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.  You may wake up to a few rumbles of thunder as this time, but rain should taper off by daybreak.

RPM 2 (1)

During the day, we’ll likely see a mix of sun and clouds as hot and humid conditions stir upon the front’s arrival.  At this time, scattered showers and thunderstorms will move from west to east, creating heavy rainfall bands over the same spots repeatedly.  This will lead to flooding concerns as we see this setup through early Thursday.

Garry Rainfall Totals (4)

Rainfall totals in excess of 1 inch will be easily widespread throughout our area.  It’s the 2 inch + category we’ll have to watch carefully.   It’s possible that with the slow and repeated movement of these storms, more than 4 inches of rain will fall in a few areas by the end of Thursday.

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Expect a few showers to begin the day Wednesday, but you won’t see rain all day long.  It’s the late evening and overnight hours that will see the heaviest potential rainfall.  We’ll keep you posted with any updates, watches, and warnings as this storm approaches.