It’s starting off a wet and cool morning here in the Southeast today. It has been wet the last several days. After going “abnormally dry” and threatening to go into the start of a drought in the Southeast, it’s balancing out and fast. Showers will be light across the Southeast today but will be much heavier along and west of the Mississippi with deep Gulf moisture streaming north. Heavy rain and thunderstorms will be found from Texas and Oklahoma to the Ohio Valley and the Tennessee Valley this afternoon, tonight, and into the daytime tomorrow.

The Southeast will really get in on the heavy rains by Thursday afternoon, also into the Ohio Valley and moving into the Great Lakes. The Northeast has enjoyed a relatively quiet week after the heat and severe weather last weekend. This comes to an end Thursday night and into Friday as all this rain and moisture moves up into the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Friday will not be a pleasant start to the Memorial Day Weekend, especially for those camping outside, in these areas. Across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, the showers will linger into Saturday. There will be a slow and gradual clearing that takes place from Southwest to Northeast across the eastern half of the nation Friday and Saturday. The Northeast will be the last place this happens late Saturday into Sunday morning.

Sunday and Monday (Memorial Day), will be by far the best two days of the holiday weekend. Lots of sunshine with little to no rain in the forecast anywhere east of the Mississippi, and highs generally in the 70s and 80s. There will be some lower 90s sneaking into the Southeast and lower Mississippi Valley, but nothing like the near-record heat one week ago. Parades and remembrances should go off just fine for most of the nation, especially east of the Plains, on Memorial Day. The trend for warm weather will continue throughout the week in the same areas. Plan on the “unofficial” start of summer being more like the “official” start of summer, when it comes to the weather.