photo by: National Weather Service

Forecast for eastern Kansas from May 20 through May 23 from the National Weather Service

Bouts of heavy rain on Thursday have caused a flash flood watch to go into effect in Douglas County until early Friday morning.

Brandon Drake, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Topeka, said some areas of Douglas County have already seen about 1 inch of rain since Wednesday, and that certain areas should expect to receive an extra 1 to 2 inches throughout Thursday evening and into the early hours of Friday. Drake said Thursday around 3:30 p.m. that there was another batch of rain moving up from Oklahoma. Douglas County is under a flash flood watch until 7 a.m. Friday.

Lawrence has received about 2 inches of rain in the past three days, according to Drake. Since January, total precipitation as measured at the Lawrence Municipal Airport was 14.65 inches. The normal value for this time of year is 11.25 inches, meaning Lawrence is more than 3 inches over average for rainfall.

Heading into the weekend, Douglas County residents can expect continued rain and scattered thunderstorms. There is a 40% chance of thunderstorms Friday, mainly before 4 p.m., and a 30% chance of thunderstorms on Saturday and Sunday.