The Farmer's Forecast: Tropical Moisture Moving In
By Nick Mikulas
The tropical disturbance near the northern Gulf Coast continues to churn toward the west. The oddity of this system is that most of the heavy rain is confined to the west side due to its weak organization, and easterly wind shear. This disturbance should move inland over southeast Louisiana on Thursday and spread scattered heavy rain across parts of the state from Thursday through Saturday.
The heavy rain will mainly be confined to south Louisiana near the I-10 corridor on Thursday. Scattered storms will fire up in the rest of the state, but it’ll be a fairly normal summer day for most of us north of the DeRidder to Ville Platte to New Roads line. As the system turns more toward the north, the rain will spread across the rest of Louisiana on Friday into Saturday. It will not be a continuous rain for most of us. The coastal parishes will see more of a steady rain, but there will be waves of rain across the rest of the state. I don’t see a high threat for severe weather or gusty wind, though a strong storm or two is possible.
Overall rainfall totals from Thursday through Saturday will range from 1/2 to 2 inches across the northern third of Louisiana, 1-4 inches in Central Louisiana, and 3-6 inches over south Louisiana. Isolated areas will see more than that, but I don’t see this bringing widespread, significant flooding. I’ll be watching it closely, and will be watching the tropics carefully as we head into the more active tropical season here in the next few weeks. As of now, I don’t see anything else that would develop in the next 5 days. Stay tuned to your favorite local meteorologist for information in your local area!