A wet weather pattern is beginning to evolve from the central part of the country to the Northeast. The near- to above-normal rainfall will be invoked by a series of small storms moving from west to east. The storms won't be particularly strong, but you don't need much when there is so much moisture available. In the winter, it takes a much stronger storm to crank out the same amount of precipitation simply because the colder overall environment holds less water vapor. In any case, some of the rain is going to be quite heavy later this week.

The corridor from North Texas to the Great Lakes will probably get the first dose of heavy rain today into Thursday. The heavy rain band is likely to set up farther south over time impacting an area from eastern Oklahoma to Kentucky by Sunday.

Story by AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist John Kocet.