| More rain likely this week |
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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer
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Posted: Tuesday, September 22, 2009 11:23 am
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The 6-day rain totals from CoCoRaHS and NWS Co-operative Observers. Courtesy the NWS.
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Steady rains for the past week forced the evacuation of 22 homes in Rutherford County last week and more rain in the forecast may cause more problems this week.
“The Nashville Airport has recorded over 8 inches of rain so far this month, which guarantees it a spot in the Top 5 wettest Septembers on record,” said Larry Vannozzi, the Meteorologist-in-Charge at the National Weather Service’s Nashville office.
Murfreesboro’s NWS station at the city’s water treatment plant has only seen around 3 inches in the past week, but the southern part of the county is swimming in floodwaters.
“This falls well shy of the record. In fact, over 8 inches fell in just one September day,” Vannozzi said, adding it was Sept. 4, 1986.
While Murfreesboro proper has only seen 3 inches, Rockvale has seen 9.02 inches of rain since Tuesday, Sept. 15 and Christiana has marked around 5.5 inches, according to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS).
Kittrell and Lascassas have also recorded more than 5 inches of rain in the past week.
Even with all the rain, local waterways are in good condition and threatening to flood, Vannozzi said..
“We believe that the dry spell we had earlier this month allowed the rivers to handle all this rain pretty easily,” he added.
The rain was initially caused by a slow-moving, low-pressure system over the southern Great Plains.
“It started pumping a lot of Gulf moisture up here last week, Vannozzi said. “That storm weakened and moved northeastward over the weekend, causing more rain over the weekend as it moved past Tennessee.”
Unforetunately, a new storm has developed in the same area and it will bring more moisture (and warmer temperatures) into Middle Tennessee over the next few days.
“A significant cold front is expected to arrive by Sunday and we are forecasting that it will ‘feel like fall’ by Monday with much drier air and sunnier skies,” Vannozzi said.
Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com. |
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