KATC StormTeam 3 Weather BLOG

Look out for storms to move in as a powerful system moves out of Texas and into Acadiana. Right now it looks like most of the rain will move in after trick-or-treat times. Some areas around Lake Charles, Welsh, Oberlin, Kinder, and western sections may have some rain right at the end of halloween activities. Areas east should be okay with rain over southeast Acadiana not moving in until late night. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain and gusty winds. Most of the rain will end before sunrise.

Baker

Homecoming weekend should be great for football, tailgating, and everything else. We could use some rain. Still running a rainfall deficit of over 20 inches here in Lafayette. That is pretty incredible since we have had three tropical systems hit Louisiana this year. Speaking of tropics, tropical storm Beta may be a hurricane before reaching land near Nicaragua this weekend. Halloween outlook still shows some showers late night, but they should come in after the trick-or-treaters sugar rush wears off. Have a great weekend.

Baker

Yes, yet another named storm. This one is called Beta, the second letter in the Greek alphabet. Beta is near Panama and Nicaragua. It is only expected to move slowly northwest and inland in Hondouras later this weekend. Clear and cool for the next few days, might see a bit of rain late Halloween night. That might be too late to save October, Lafayette has .31″ for the month, New Iberia .12″, and Alexandria 0.oo”!

Baker

The weather will sail smoothly over the next several days. Milder conditions are anticipated for the weekend with highs reaching the upper 70s by Sunday. It will stay dry through the end of the weekend, but our first good chance of a rain-producing weather system will make a run for Acadiana Monday and/or Tuesday of next week.

Will it be dry for Halloween? Right now the system should bring the best rain chances late Monday night into early Tuesday with drier weather to return for mid-week. Look out for the possibility of a really chilly period Tuesday into Tuesday night…if the long range models are right with the system early next week, we could see more blustery conditions than what we are showing on the 8 day forecast.

Rob Perillo

After a couple of very cool days, Wednesday should be the start of a warmup. Today with full sunshine we should get back to near 70 and into the low and mid 70s for the end of the week and the weekend. Looks like the rain bucket will remain dry for many days to come as we continue a rainfall deficit of nearly 20 inches for the year here in Lafayette. A couple of areas in the Caribbean, one near Panama, and one near the Leeward Islands may have some potential in the next couple of days, but all forecast keep these systems well away from the Gulf of Mexico.

Baker

Starting the day off in the lower 40s with a few areas getting to 38 or 39. These are typical low temps for the middle of January, but no records are falling at this time. A warming trend will begin today with highs in the upper 60s, and back into the 70s by tomorrow. Pleasant weather will stick around for the rest of the week and the weekend. Right now it looks like trick or treaters will have comfy temps for costume wearing next Monday. Wilma crossed Florida rapidly 24 hours ago and is now east of North Carolina, and will be near Newfoundland by this time tomorrow. It is merging with Alpha and will be a heck of a storm in the Atlantic. It will spread rain, wind, and some snow in New England.

Baker

I’m back from a week of vacation and am updating the daily almanac…last week we had highs near 90 and low in the 60s. Today we barely made it out of the 60s and we’re heading for the lower 40s tonight.

The winds will abate tomorrow, but it will stay very cool. We are not going to break any records, but it feels like it though, after such a hot summer. The forecast stays cool and quiet at least through the weekend.

Summer Review…
If we look at the mean daily temperature (averaging daily highs with lows) for this past summer, the numbers are staggering. We keep records in Lafayette going back to 1893. July 2005 was the 2nd hottest on record, August was 2nd hottest, and September was the hottest for our 112 year period! Therefore, it can be loosely be concluded that this past summer was hottest on record.

Did the local heat translate to stronger nastier, hurricanes in the Gulf? It didn’t hurt, probably helped, but we are in a period of increased hurricane activity that will likely continue for another decade, period. I don’t subscribe to the theory that it is a part of global warming…and I question many the global warming theories themselves…there’s plenty of validity in current theory, but a lot of politics have mixed in over the last 15-20 years…I’ll stop here!

The nature of science is to question and revise theory in search of the truth…

Rob Perillo

Quite the blast of cold air moved in last night. Early morning lows are in the 40s and wind chills at times have gotten into the upper 30s. Today, even with full sunshine we should see temps in the mid 60s, and the breezes will stay in the 15-20mph range. Wilma is making landfall as a Cat 3 storm with winds near 120mph this morning. It will exit Florida’s east coast later this afternoon and head out into the open waters of the Atlantic. Tropical Depression Alpha poses no threat now that it is moving into the Atlantic. Enjoy the cool.

Baker

A cold front is progressing toward Acadiana and should be here overnight. Kick-off temperatures should be around 70 with an overnight low of 58. Saturday and Sunday looks great with highs around 80s and lows in the mid 50s.
Wilma is still moving slowly over the Yucatan dumping up to 40 inches of rainfall. As it moves closer to Florida, thankfully, it will be a category 1 or 2 and not a 4.
5:50 pm

Kari

Wilma is a powerful Category 4 hurricane with 150mph winds this morning. The hurricane may reacy Cat 5 before making landfall near Cozumel and the Yucatan later this morning and this afternoon. Deep trough over the US is still expected to turn Wilma toward the northeast toward Florida later this weekend and early next week. Upper level winds will be strong out of the west that will cause shearing of the hurricane as it heads northeast. Wilma is NOT expected to be the monster Cat 4/5 when it reaches southwest Florida. That same trough will bring us delightful weather over the weekend and even better weather next week with chilly temps in the 40s at night starting Monday.

Have a great weekend.

Baker