Farmer's Forecast: A Weather Roller Coaster Riding Into Christmas

By Nick Mikulas

Louisiana Farm Bureau News/Cenla Weather

Howdy farm folks! It looks like we have a temperature roller coaster on the way, with a little rain, but not enough to have much of an impact. Fortunately, the rains we saw last week were enough to remove the severe drought over south Louisiana, leaving only a small area centered on Natchitoches that still is classified as a D2, severe drought. We still need rain per the drought monitor, but at least it isn’t 100 degrees every day, evaporating everything in sight.

It looks like a couple of rounds of light rain will move through the state. One will be Saturday night into early Sunday, with another late Tuesday into Wednesday. Both of these will total up to about 1/4 to 1 inch of rain across the state, which won’t move the needle much on drought conditions. I also expect a hard freeze for many of us on Sunday night, with sub freezing temperatures likely down to the marshes south of I-10. I don’t think this freeze will make it to the coast, but it’ll get pretty close.

Beyond this, we warm up steadily into the 70s, and maybe even see some 80s in the week leading up to Christmas. If you need cold air for your Christmas shopping, do it Monday, or book a flight to Fairbanks. It looks like most of the country will be quite toasty as we head into Christmas Day, and I don’t foresee any major storm systems. This is pretty typical of a La Niña year. I’ll update things next week! Merry Christmas in advance!