A Flood Watch has been issued for all of southwestern Connecticut from tomorrow morning through Friday morning. Two-to-four inches of rain are possible by midday Friday. The heaviest rain will fall late tomorrow through tomorrow night, only aggravating the flooding problems we experienced earlier this week. Unfortunately, there hasn't been enough time for the rivers to recede, which will only make matters worse. Today will be the last dry day before light rain arrives late tonight.
To put things in perspective, a Flood Warning is still in effect for the Housatonic River at the Stevenson Dam. As of last night, the stage was 14.6 feet, more than three feet above the 11-foot flood stage. The river crested at 21.68 feet earlier this week, the fifth-highest crest for the Housatonic in recorded history. The crest was significant because the extremely high water table ultimately produces widespread flooding South to Bridgeport.
Thus far this month, the official rain total at Sikorsky Memorial Airport is 1.51 inches. However, some communities in Northern Fairfield Country reported well over four inches of rain Sunday night into Monday. Last month, well over four inches (4.36") of precipitation fell, nearly an inch-and-a-half above the normal amount for January. You'll recall the wettest March on record was established one year ago when a series of Nor'easters delivered nearly a foot of rain (10.13") for the month.
Viewer Ralph Fato sent several photos to me following Monday's rainstorm. He wrote, "I wish I can do this for a living. I’m grateful being able to share my experience with people thanks to social media. (I've) been doing this since I was 10. We got lucky that some of our three-foot snowpack melted before these rainstorms moved in. Luckily, no water in my basement either. This seemed to be more focused on the rivers overflowing from the deep snow pack up North, then localized flooding."
We'll have just one more day to dry out before light rain develops later tonight. The steadiest and heaviest rain will arrive later tomorrow afternoon through early Friday. At this point, it looks like two-inches-plus will fall across the region, with three-to-four inches likely over Eastern New York and lighter amounts across Eastern Connecticut and Long Island. The rain will taper to showers by midday Friday with daytime high temperatures in the 40s to close to 50 degrees.
Here is the projected rainfall total for the Northeast through Friday. Notice the color-coded legend. The light blue shading indicates two-inches-plus of rain, while the darker blue, just to our West, illustrates three-inches-plus. The darker green over southeastern Connecticut shows where one-plus inches of rain can be expected. It's not a good situation, and serious flooding problems can be expected once again.
Paul
