Upstate New York May See Flash Flooding Due To Unusual Weather Phenomenon

The National Weather Service is predicting wet weather starting Friday, and these showers and thunderstorms could set a record for something you've probably never heard of.

We're definitely needing more rain here, but we're also hoping to avoid flash flooding due to a weather phenomenon that most of us have never heard of: It's called "precipitable water value."

Meteorologist Dave Thomas says we could set a record for the amount of moisture suspended in the clouds.

According to Syracuse.com the precipitable water value:

measures how much water is floating in a given column of air. The average PWAT this time of year in Upstate New York is about 1 inch. That means that if all the water in a column of atmosphere could be wrung out, an inch of rain would fall.

Because much of New York has been in a severe drought, the water could potentially run off quickly and cause flash flooding. Urban areas are most at risk because there's less soil. It would take 1 to 3 inches of precipitation to fall per hour to cause the flooding, and as of now, they're predicting 2.

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