A weather battle zone marking the northern edge of extreme heat and more temperate air will set the stage for torrential downpours to repeat from Kansas to West Virginia, Tennessee and Virginia this week. The pattern will bring drought and heat relief to some areas, but at a cost that includes the risk of dangerous flash flooding, AccuWeather meteorologists warn.
"Storms that fire from the central Plains to parts of the southern Appalachians and the Northeast will have heat on the run this week," AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Benz said.
Temperatures will be slashed by an average of 10-20 degrees following highs well into the 90s to near 100 from last week through this past weekend.
Highs ranging from the upper 70s to the low 90s will be the rule much of this week from St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, to Roanoke and Richmond, Virginia.
A heat dome that scorched the central and eastern United States over the past week will be pushed farther south by a persistent weather system that is forecast to stretch from the central Plains to the central Appalachians. In this setup, downpours will train, or repeat, over the same location for several hours -- and many locations will face downpours day after day.