“The scattered downpours will bring welcome rains to the Gulf Coast…”

While severe to extreme drought rages over a large part of the Gulf Coast, scattered tropical downpours will be welcomed with open arms by residents into early next week.

Tropical downpours over the last two weeks have brought some aid from the drought in Florida and in extreme southern Texas.

Scattered Tropical Downpours

Many residents of the remainder of the Gulf Coast region will now get a temporary break from the dryness Sunday into early next week as a flow of tropical moisture brings scattered showers and thunderstorms to the area.

Although the rainfall will be welcome with open arms, a few of the thunderstorms can organize into rather nasty complexes, bringing torrential, flooding downpours and even damaging wind gusts.

Despite the rain, the air will continue to feel quite steamy across the Deep South. High temperatures through the weekend will be in the 90s with AccuWeather.com RealFeel® temperatures in the 100s.

Improvement across the Gulf Coast from the drought conditions is expected to continue over the coming weeks. A light flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will be enough to get random showers and thunderstorms daily.

While much of this activity will be spotty in nature, over a several-day period many areas should at least get some rainfall.

Over the past month, temperatures across the Southeast, Texas and Southwest have averaged 5 to 10 degrees above normal. High temperatures throughout much of the South have consistently topped off in the 90s and lower 100s, especially in western Texas.

Little relief from the heat and humidity has come thus far in the way of precipitation. Rainfall has averaged 2 to 6 inches below normal in the South, with the biggest deficit across southern Louisiana to southern Georgia.

This image courtesy the U.S. Drought Monitor shows areas of exceptional drought along the Gulf Coast which are outlined in deep red.

New Orleans, La., has only received 37 percent of their normal rainfall from the period April 1 to the current date. Similar numbers are found throughout the Deep South as Mobile, Ala., has received 23 percent of their normal rainfall for the same time.

Tropics Remaining Quiet

Though the scattered downpours will bring welcome rains to the Gulf Coast, it may take an organized tropical system to produce enough widespread rain to really diminish the drought. Unfortunately the tropical Atlantic remains rather quiet at this time.

AccuWeather.com meteorologists are monitoring a couple of tropical waves, although none of them are showing any signs of development. A couple of weak waves in the central and eastern Caribbean are producing spotty thunderstorm activity.

For more information and expert analysis on the current situation in the Tropical Atlantic, please refer to the Accuweather.com Hurricane Center.