The Farmer's Forecast: Another Bout of Rain
By Nick Mikulas
Another bout of heavy rain is on the way for Louisiana as tropical moisture interacts with a late season front. The worst of this will happen between Sunday and Tuesday, as the moisture from the remnants of Tropical Storm Cristina move northward toward the Gulf Coast.
A system that’s been causing big time severe weather up north will sag southward over the weekend. I don’t expect widespread severe weather, but can’t rule out a couple of severe storms. The main story will be waves of heavy rain from Sunday afternoon into Tuesday. I think 3-6 inches of rain will fall in most places, though this is the type of event where isolated 10 inch totals will be possible. This one looks different than the long stretch of wet weather we had a couple weeks back. This will be fairly consolidated over a shorter period of time. By the time everyone gets down to Convention, we should see improving conditions.
Looking way far out into the future, we have officially shifted into El Niño conditions over the Pacific. This should limit tropical development this year, but due to the strength of the El Niño, we should see above normal rain through the winter and spring months. I’m not sure exactly what you can do to prepare for that, but be ready for next winter to look a lot different than this past winter. I hope everyone has safe travels to New Orleans next week! See you there!