Memorial Day sogginess expected to persist for much of USA
Storms, wind, rain roll through South
Huge swaths of the country spent a soggy Memorial Day with thunderstorms and overcast skies shadowing much of the Northeast and South — and forecasters say the misery could continue.
Damp conditions are forecast to remain past the holiday in parts of the southern USA.
“Thunderstorms will affect parts of Texas, Louisiana and the Southeast during the first part of the week as a storm becomes stationary,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Frank Strait said.
The National Weather Service issued a coastal flood advisory for Maryland’s Eastern Shore through early Tuesday. Shallow flooding is expected in “the most vulnerable” waterfront locations, the weather service said.
Dreary weather Monday hung over Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas and stretched to the MidAtlantic and New England as potentially strong storms were predicted to roll through the South.
Rain and high temperatures only in the 50s and lower 60s spanned from eastern New York to New England. More showers and thunderstorms were forecast across the Northeast for Tuesday and Wednesday. The weather service said a severe-thunderstorm watch was in effect late Monday for much of South Carolina and northeastern Georgia.
Near Houston, lightning strikes ignited a series of house fires Monday, including a blaze at the Holly Creek Apartments in The Woodlands that destroyed six units. In College Station, Texas, about 95 miles north of Houston, authorities said lightning strikes were to blame for as many as nine fires.
Near Memphis, almost 200,000 residents were waiting for power to be restored after a storm ripped trees from the ground with 80mph winds. No injuries or deaths were reported. In Memphis’ Midtown and hard-hit suburbs such as Bartlett and Cordova, residents and businesses spent Memorial Day weekend facing perhaps more than a week without lights and air conditioning.