Valentine’s Weekend Storm Included Flood, Severe Threats In South

Severe Storms, Multiday Rain Possible This Week

Valentine's weekend was a soaker across the South, with locally heavy rain and a few severe thunderstorms from Texas to Florida to the Carolinas and Virginia.

While the wet weekend forecast was a bit of a bummer, there were several "saving graces:"

1. It didn't rain the entire weekend in any one area of the South.

2. There was no bitter cold air in place, so it wasn't another southern winter storm the likes of the recent ice storm ("Fern") nor the Carolinas clobbering ("Gianna").

3. There was no significant severe weather outbreak, nor a major flash flood threat.

4. In fact, for much of the region, this rain was sorely needed. (More on that later.)

Where It Hit Hardest

Several tornadoes were reported associated with this storm system, including a possible tornado that broke some tree limbs in Orange County, Texas. Wind gusts as high as 70 mph were reported in Southeast Texas. Strong winds also downed powerlines in Nacogdoches city and county in Louisiana.

Rain spread into the Southeast Sunday, then moved off the East Coast by Monday.

(MORE MAPS: Daily US Rain, Snow Forecast)

In general, the severe weather threat with this system was rather low and isolated, as was the threat of heavy rain and flash flooding.

(MORE: 15 Severe Weather Safety Tips That Could Save Your Life)

'Goldilocks' Rain?

Given the relatively low threats of both severe weather and flash flooding, this might be a near-ideal case of drought relief.

As you can see in the map below, much of the South was in drought at the time of the storm. Parts of Arkansas, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas were in extreme drought as of mid-February.

Over the prior few days, fires have burned in parts of Florida, western North Carolina, near Shawnee, Oklahoma, and the Texas Panhandle.

It's also been among the five driest winters-to-date in over a dozen cities including Charlotte, Dallas, Little Rock, Raleigh and West Palm Beach, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center.

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.