Approximately one-fourth of all rainfalls in the U.S. become groundwater, and the weather report is evidence that plenty of groundwater was available to go around this weekend.
Several storm systems swinging up from the deep South brought near-torrential downpours to the Northeast region of the U.S. this weekend, finally breaking the back of a long heat wave.
According to Accuweather, temperatures held to the 70s where the heaviest rainfall occurs. However, high humidity accompanied the rain and made for very muggy conditions.
“During the summertime, it is difficult to pinpoint which communities will be hit the hardest by thunderstorms and downpours,” AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dave Dombek reported.
Unfortunately, Maryland has already seen some devastating results from the rain.
Howard County officials said on Sunday that the body of a second person was found after flash flooding devastated low-lying Ellicott City, in Maryland.
Maryland governor Larry Hogan was touring the damage and has since declared a state of emergency, which will allow greater coordination and assistance with aid.
Videos posted on social media showed floodwaters rushing down the town’s Main Street, sweeping away cars and countless other items in its path.
Some vehicles even came to rest on top of one another. Kittleman said the devastation was the worst he’d seen in 50 years, including Hurricane Agnes’s wake of destruction in 1972, which caused a massive flood.
“It’s just a matter of the heavy rain being that long in duration. It just happened to set up over that area,” Jason Elliott, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, said.
Despite the devastation in Maryland, the rain provided a much needed break in the heat for other areas.
Thanks to the rainfall, a moist ground prevented extremely high temperatures during the daytime. The air at night has remained muggy, but cool regardless.
“Despite a little edge taken off the high temperatures by early next week, it will still feel steamy in much of the Northeast,” according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Paul Pastelok.
Meteorologists also say that temperatures may continue to average slightly above normal in most places during the first week of August.
“We expect another surge of heat in the Northeast during the middle of August,” Pastelok said.
