Authors for the U.S. Weekly Drought Monitor (USDM) agree that drought remains an issue for much of the Bayou State but removed areas of D2 Drought ('Severe Drought') as of this week.
Read MoreSeveral rounds of precipitation moved through the Bayou State from Dec 3 to Dec 7 in association with low pressure off the Gulf Coast, persistent upper-level southwesterly flow from the Pacific, and a frontal passage on Dec 7.
Read MoreRains from the final days of November through December 9 were sufficient to produce welcomed 1-category improvements (drought category reductions) across all of southern Louisiana.
Read MoreHowdy 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.
Read MoreRain fell across the Bayou State in multiple rounds from Nov 29 into Dec 2 in association with two frontal passages and low pressure tracking across the northern Gulf.
Read MoreMother Nature delivers a reminder that we are now in "meteorological winter" (Dec, Jan & Feb) with a freeze tonight into early Wednesday morning. Fortunately, this freeze will be just a "one-nighter" ... temps for Wednesday night/Thursday morning will be still by cold but should be above-freezing for all but possibly a few northernmost Louisiana communities.
Read MoreThe hurricane season ended Sunday and for the first time since 2015 a hurricane did not make landfall in the U.S. There were 13 named storms, five hurricanes and four major hurricanes. Colorado State research scientist Phil Klotzbach says atmospheric conditions protected the U.S.
Read MoreThere were two precipitation events during the 7-day monitoring period, both linked to frontal systems: the first on Nov 21-22 and a more significant event (particularly across northern Louisiana) on Nov 24-25
Read MoreA storm system currently centered in the Southern Plains will send a strong cold front through Louisiana on Tuesday. The SPC has posted a "Slight Risk" (2-out-of-5 on the threat scale) for severe storms in advance of the cold front for northern Louisiana. The primary threat window is from Monday afternoon into Monday night, ending early Tuesday morning.
Read More7-day rainfall was mainly limited to a frontal passage during the overnight hours of Dec 13 into the morning hours of Dec 14, with 7-day totals running below-normal for the vast majority of the state.
Read MoreRain has been a tough commodity statewide, with nothing in the last week, and most areas seeing less than half of our average over the last 30 days. That has brought some parts of Louisiana below normal for the last year and we’d been running a surplus for some time. That’s why parts of Louisiana are now in a severe drought, with 5% in that category, and 43% in moderate drought. There is some hope, though I tend to think models are a bit overdone on their current forecasts for rain. I’ll explain.
Read MoreAfter a rain-free 7-day stretch for Louisiana (Nov 12-18), today's updated U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) depiction for the Bayou State shows additional degradations with more than 40% of the state now posted as "in drought" (D1+D2).
Read MoreMost of the Bayou State didn’t receive any precipitation during the 7-day period; the exception was mainly over southeastern and south-central portions of the state during the frontal passage of Nov 8-9.
Read MoreLouisiana is nowhere near as dry (yet!) as the circumstances that developed during 2023 … but we are seeing some pockets of “critical” dryness in sections of the state. Note that the LA Drought Team introduced two areas of D2 (‘Severe Drought’) to the latest Weekly Drought Monitor. It’s the first time that any part of the state was tagged with D2 since late 2024.
Read MoreThere's a lot going on in the world of weather, so I wanted to update you on the things you probably already know, and add some things you might not know. First off, there's a freeze warning for most of the state Tuesday morning. I'm confident you all know that since you're very tuned into the weather, and this will be the first freeze of the year for some. The freeze warning gets way down south to Houma and Abbeville, but I think immediate coastal areas will stay above freezing. After that, we will see a quick warm up, with temperatures approaching 80 by Wednesday.
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