Heavy rains and thunderstorms are expected to darken the skies above Oxford again this week, causing possible street flooding.

The good news? It should be gone before Double Decker Arts Festival kicks off on Friday night.

Meteorologist intern William Churchill with the National Weather Service said the rain should start Tuesday night and go into Wednesday where there’s a 50 percent chance of rain.

“The heavier rain will be Wednesday night into Thursday,” Churchill said.

On Wednesday night, rain and thunderstorms are likely with rain amounts between a quarter and half inch. On Thursday, expect the heavier rains to fall where Lafayette County could see another inch of rain.

Friday night has a 20 percent chance of a stray shower.

“There’s good agreement with the longer range models that the system will be gone by Friday afternoon,” Churchill said. “The bulk of it will be east of Mississippi by Friday night.”

Saturday is expected to be a high of 77 degrees with lots of sunshine. Sunday could reach 80 degrees under sunny skies.

However, it is north Mississippi where people say if you don’t like the weather — wait an hour.

“It could change,” Churchill said. “But that’s how things are looking today.”

The system coming in Tuesday night is the same one wreaking havoc in Texas where more than 15 inches have fallen in some areas. Heavy rain inundated the Houston area with as much as 10 inches of rainfall in just six hours and triggered flash flooding early this morning.

Churchill said while it’s the same system that will be moving into Oxford this week, the NWS does not expect the same amount of rain to fall in north Mississippi.

“We’re not anticipating a whole lot of flooding issues,” he said. “But that too, can change.”

Churchill suggested keeping a close eye on the weather over the next couple of days.

So far in north Mississippi, the spring has been a wet one. In March 16 inches of rain fell, which is 11 inches above average. So far in April, less rain has fallen but the area is still an inch above normal, Churchill said.