As storm cleanup continues, the Lehigh Valley could see a soaking rain Thursday

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – As cleanup continues from Monday’s severe weather, the Lehigh Valley will see a period of rain Thursday that could bring localized flooding to some areas.

But the forecast has improved, even with the area at a marginal risk of excessive rainfall.

• The Lehigh Valley is at risk of excessive rainfall on Thursday
• Guidance has moved away from the heavy rainfall threat signaled earlier in the week
• Rain should arrive by late morning and clear out by rush hour 

“Model guidance made a sharp move away from a heavy rainfall threat that it began signaling on Wednesday...especially from parts of the Mid-Atlantic into New England,” the Weather Prediction Center’s forecast discussion said.

That matches what the National Weather Service and local forecasters are saying about probabilities for heavy rainfall.

“I don’t think this is going to be as bad as we thought earlier,” EPAWA meteorologist Bobby Martrich said in his Thursday video forecast.

Timing

“There will be some showers, it’ll be mostly cloudy or cloudy throughout the entire day,” Martrich said, flagging the rain as a “mainly during the day type thing.”

Rain is expected to move into the area by late morning and clear out after 4 p.m.

“Relatively fast storm motion should help limit the flash flood potential, but some isolated flooding can’t be ruled out,” the weather service forecast discussion said.

Risks

Unlike Monday, when severe weather ripped through the area, spawning a tornado on the east side of Allentown, Thursday should be relatively calm.

The weather service said the severe risk looks minimal, except in the far south across southern Delaware and adjacent areas, where a marginal risk of severe weather has been placed by the Storm Prediction Center.

Even that threat has been slightly reduced given more limited instability and a faster system movement than previously expected, the weather service said.

“This will be felt by most with relatively cooler temperatures, as most areas will either fail to, or struggle to reach, the lower 80s today,” the forecast discussion said.

While rainfall will overspread the entire area by late morning and early afternoon, the best risk of heavy rain and any localized flooding will be in mid- to late-afternoon before the storm departs.