At a Glance

Drought conditions persist along the Gulf Coast and in parts of Florida.Heavy rain from Cristobal will likely eliminate the majority of this drought.However, the rain could be too much of a good thing, resulting in flooding in parts of those areas.

Drought conditions persist along the Gulf Coast and in Florida after a mainly hot, dry spring, and although heavy rain from could largely eliminate it, there might be flooding concerns because of too much rain in a short period of time.

As of the most recent update from the , moderate to severe drought was plaguing 9% of Florida, 8.5% of Alabama, 5% of Mississippi and 5% of Louisiana.

The areas shaded in yellow on the map below indicate that even larger portions of those states are not quite classified in drought, but are still running abnormally dry due to an overall lack of rainfall during the spring.

Abundant tropical moisture has already streamed into much of Florida late this past week and, combined with an upper-level disturbance, brought locally heavy rain to the Sunshine State ahead of Cristobal. Tropical moisture has also resulted in locally heavy rainfall for parts of the northern Gulf Coast.

Cristobal will spread bands of heavy rain into the Gulf Coast and Florida this weekend.

This rainfall might be good news at first, helping to eliminate the ongoing drought across those areas. However, several inches of rain is likely to fall over a relatively short period of a day or two, and that could lead to flash flooding concerns from Louisiana to the Florida Peninsula.

The National Weather Service has issued flood watches for parts of the Florida Peninsula for this weekend. Flood watches have also been posted from southern Louisiana into the Florida Panhandle into early week.

So while the drought might be largely eliminated, know that flooding is a common theme from June Gulf of Mexico tropical storms, and Cristobal is likely no exception.

(MORE: A Brief History of June Gulf of Mexico Tropical Storms and Hurricanes)

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, .