Rock Hill region commuters will deal with wet roads. But it won’t be bad everywhere.

Anyone going outside this afternoon can expect moderate to heavy rainfall. That also means wet roads and standing water.

“Hopefully most of the moisture will be to the north of us,” said Chuck Haynes, Director of Emergency Management in York County. “Probably what we’ll see is the normal low-lying areas and low-level flash flooding type of events.”

He said there probably won’t be much flooding in Lancaster and Chester counties.

“We’re not projected to be in the area with the highest rain, and it’s expected to be more North and South of us,” says Darren Player, Director of Emergency Management in Lancaster County.

“We’re not seeing a lot of problems with rain, and no flooding,” Player said.

Haynes did recommend that drivers be vigilant on wet roads.

“Avoid standing water and driving through water,” he said. “You never know what is under the water.”

The South Carolina Department of Public Safety is uging drivers to be wary of driving too fast.

“We want to remind motorists that a lot of the crashes we see during storms are speed related,” says Corporal David Jones. “(Local drivers) feel like they know the area and know these roads, but people still need to slow down and limit distractions.

“If you see water on the road, especially if it seems like rushing water, don’t try to cross it. Avoid those areas and use common sense.”

In store for the coming days

A stalled low pressure system could bring the Rock Hill region its wettest week in more than three years, along with a threat of flash flooding, forecasters say.

Periods of showers and thunderstorms are forecast into the weekend, with meteorologists saying the greatest threat of heavy rain will be through Thursday or Friday.

“We have lots of rain coming this week,” said Frank Strait, a Rock Hill native who is Severe Weather Liaison with the South Carolina State Climatology Office.

The culprit is an area of low pressure in the upper level of the atmosphere. This “upper low” has gotten cut off from the main atmospheric flow and is predicted to meander over Tennessee and northern Alabama this week.

Clusters of showers and thunderstorms are predicted to spin in a counter-clockwise flow around the low pressure system.

That means it won’t be raining all the time, but it will rain frequently, and forecasters say some of the rain could be heavy.

“Thunderstorms caused by the upper low will cause downpours that can lead to flooding,” Strait said.

The government-run Climate Prediction Center is forecasting more than 5 inches of rain this week for the Rock Hill region.

The most rain in a week this year was 2.41 inches, which fell April 23-29.

Otherwise, you have to go back to the week of May 17-23, 2020, when 4.27 inches of rain was recorded at Rock Hill’s airport.

Meteorologists note that rainfall amounts could vary greatly from location to location.

The National Weather Service’s Mike Rehnberg said computer guidance is mixed on whether the greatest threat for flooding through Monday night would be in the mountains or along the Interstate 77 corridor, which includes ncludes the Rock Hill region.

But with more rain expected Tuesday into at least Friday or Saturday, floods eventually will be a concern in many locations, say forecasters.

“It seems increasingly likely that a Flash Flood Watch will be needed for part or all of the western Carolinas and northeast Georgia at some point,” said Weather Service meteorologist Harry Gerapetritis.

Temperatures are forecast to be rather cool around midweek, thanks to the clouds, rain and northeast flow from a high pressure system over New England. Wednesday, the first day of summer, could bring Rock Hill high temperatures in the low to mid 70s, about 10-15 degrees below normal.

And a tropical system?

Also, the National Hurricane Center said it expects a tropical storm to form in the Atlantic Ocean within a few days.

An area of disturbed weather became a tropical depression Monday, and computer guidance indicates the system, which will be named Bret, once it reaches tropical storm status, will strengthen later in the week. By late this week, the official forecast calls for the storm to be south of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Long-term guidance predicts the system will either move into the Gulf of Mexico or curve northward and remain in the Atlantic, well east of the U.S. Southeast Coast.