Strong thunderstorms will threaten the lower Mississippi Valley through this evening. Showers and thunderstorms will roll through the rest of the South into Sunday before a new storm likely delivers widespread soaking rain next week.

The combination of a disturbance pushing farther away from northern Mexico and moisture flowing northward will yield showers and thunderstorms over the South today. Some of the thunderstorms over the lower Mississippi Valley will turn strong.

The Severe Weather Center states the strongest thunderstorms will produce damaging winds, hail and blinding downpours. An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out.

Any severe thunderstorms will lose their potency beyond this evening as the disturbance heads towards the Northeast.

Additional showers and thunderstorms will dampen the South on Sunday as a new storm develops over the Four Corners region. This storm will become the source of soaking rain for the South next week.

The storm tapping into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico will result in rain and thunderstorms overspreading the western and central Gulf Coast on Monday.

The wet weather will likely slowly shift through the South Tuesday into Wednesday. Senior Meteorologist Frank Strait expresses his concern for possible severe weather in his blog.

Enough cold air may be in place for the rain to begin as ice along the eastern slopes of the Appalachians in North Carolina and Virginia on Tuesday.

The rain will be a welcome site for those places still suffering from the ongoing drought. The U.S. Drought Monitor reported last Tuesday that the drought is at extreme levels in northeastern Georgia and northwestern South Carolina.

The storm will team up with another system that will pound the Northwest Sunday night into Monday, according to the West Regional News story.

Chilly air following that latter system will plunge over the South in the wake of the soaking rain.

Continue to check back with AccuWeather.com in the upcoming days as the exact details of the storm unfold.