KATC StormTeam 3 Weather BLOG
Our weather repeated itself today as temperatures heated up, storms developed and winded down with the loss of daytime heating. Tomorrow we can expect the same but this time we will have a lifting mechanism for the storms. A cold front will be moving through and strong storms may erupt once again. By Wednesday night the rain will be ending and drier air will be moving in. Sunny skies and cooler overnight temperatures can be expected throught the weekend as high pressure settles over us.
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Big storms erupted across the area this afternoon in response to the daytime heating combined with a weak trough of low pressure that has been draped across southern Louisiana. Activity this afternoon and early this evening produced marble size hail, frequent cloud to ground lightning and very gusty winds. Winds at the Lake Charles Airport were clocked up to 66mph with a Cessna airplane flipped over and a Citation jet turned around by the wind. In addition the largest hail reported this afternoon was quarter size, about 1.00 inch in diameter around Sulphur. In Acadiana, we had numerous reports of pea to marble size hail around the Grosse Isle area, just to the east-northeast of Abbeville, and up to nickel size hail near Washington in St Landry Parish, with numerous reports of pea size hail just about in every Acadiana parish. Activity was beginning to decrease at press time (around 700pm) and I would expect all to be quiet by 10pm.Â
Tomorrow I am expecting another round of daytime heating induced showers and storms, but the storms should not be quite as intense as they were today, but they could still be quite healthy. Showers and storms will be possible through early Wednesday as a cool front presses southeastward across the region. Drier, more stable, and slightly cooler weather should move in for later in the week into the weekend with overnight lows possibly dropping into the upper 50s for Friday and Saturday mornings!  Â
Your Sunday will be hot, hot, hot with scattered showers in the afternoon. Saturday’s storms brought small hail and torrential rain to some areas, mainly in coastal parishes. Throught the workweek warm temperatures and afternoon storms will stay with us until a cold front moves through Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
The remnant of subtropical storm Andrea had a flare up convection on the eastern side of the low. It may become tropical but it is expected to continue to move out into the Atlantic so it won’t affect any land.
Enjoy your weekend!
The upper low that should have enhanced our rain chances today has had a hard time with limited moisture and stability associated with a stubborn ridge of high pressure nearby to the east. There will be a light risk of a few storms early this evening, but look for fair and comfortable conditions later on tonight. Lows tonight should drop into the low-mid 60s. Saturday should bring mostly sunny and seasonably warm conditions with a slight chance of a late afternoon showers or thundershower while Sunday I would expect warmer conditions, more clouds and a better chance of scattered late afternoon showers and storms. Highs Sunday should reach the upper 80s.  There should be little change for early next week with widely scattered showers and warm conditions continuing. By mid-next week a weak cool front will enhance shower and thunderstorm activity for Wednesday into Thursday with daytime temperatures about 5 degree cooler post front for Thursday and Friday.Â
The former Sub-Tropical Depression Andrea has been drifting to the south and has been working its way into slightly warmer waters. Florida and Georgia have been desperate for rain but so far this system just continues to fan the fires and has engulfed much of the Florida and the extreme eastern Gulf of Mexico with smoke. The remnant system is still being watched by the National Hurricane Center, but at this time significant redevelopment is not anticipated. Have a good weekend!
We’re still looking at improving rain chances as we head toward Friday and the weekend. Meanwhile the National Hurricane Center upgrades our system in the Atlantic to a “Sub-Tropical Stormâ€â€¦this makes this the first official named system for the 2007 hurricanes season, but this is not purely a tropical system as it is not deriving it’s energy from the water. “Andrea†should not pose a major threat to the Gulf, although the winds circulating around this system continue to fan the fires in Georgia and Florida, but haven’t been helping with much rainfall…hopefully that changes for our friends to the east later this week. You can learn more about a sub-tropical storm by the NWS Lake Charles weekly email (see picture above). In addition, don’t forget to check out the NWS local hurricane survival guide. Sorry for the short blog but I’ve been working on a new in-house severe weather and storm tracking tool…stay tuned to see it on air!
We continue to stay in a high pressure “sandwich†as a low pressure system that looks like a weak tropical storm drifts westward to the Florida and Georgia coasts. The coastal low has been weakening, but wasn’t far from being considered a “sub-tropical†storm by the National Hurricane Center. Meanwhile, drier air continues to move into Acadiana from the northeast while just to our north and west the heat and humidity are helping to produce scattered showers and strong storms as close as western Vernon Parish. Activity is drifting to the west and southwest and should stay away from most Acadiana for one more day. There will be the slight risk of late afternoon storms tomorrow, mainly the northwestern parishes of Acadiana. An upper low will approach from the northwest Thursday and Friday, bringing more cloud cover and better chances of showers and storms. Although the models have been not been showing an overly wet period later this week, there will be the risk of some hefty storms and the possibility of severe weather…mainly storms capable of producing strong winds and hail. This system will be slow-moving through the weekend and may keep our rain chances enhanced through the weekend. These systems are usually weird in how they usually pan out, so be prepared for a changeable weather pattern, and a changeable forecast toward the latter part of the week into the weekend.Â
In addition to the severe weather and tornadoes in the plains this weekend, NASA has come out with imagery depicting the heavy rainfall across the plains over the last week. Major flooding of rivers will continue there, with some sort of bump in water levels probably coming down the Red River and the Atchafalaya River in about a week.
Strong showers and thunderstorms have barreled across the area from east to west late this afternoon and early evening as a weak “back door†cool front traverses our area. This pattern is more usual in the summer, but not as unusual as we segue into out tropical season. A non-tropical storm system off the Southeast US coast has been drifting southwestward over the last day or so pushing a pocket of high pressure accompanied by drier, slightly cooler and more stable air into the region. Showers and storms have accompanied this front and will continue to drift west-southwestward through the evening hours. The activity should weaken with the loss of daytime heating. Tomorrow will bring a period of cloudy skies early in the day, but sunshine with lower humidity and milder temperatures are forecast for tomorrow afternoon. Mostly sunny skies are anticipated for Wednesday with highs pushing back into the mid-upper 80s. Later in the week and the weekend should be unsettled as an upper low drops from the northwest engendering more cloud cover and the chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms.  Â
Happy Cinco de Mayo! The humidity has been the main story all weekend and it’s not leaving us in the near forecast. Highs remain in the upper 80s with heat indices in the low 90s. Into the work week rain chances go up slightly as a back door cold front slides down the east coast. This may become a big storm system for the South Carolina area before the low pressure moves back out into the Atlantic and weakens. For us, humidity will go down slightly for Wednesday and Thursday before winds once again turn southerly.
Not much going on here but a very dangerous situation for the upper plain states and mid-west. From South Dakota to central Texas tornadoes have been breaking out with over 75 reports at this time. More will be possible as the storm system slowly moves north overnight and tomorrow. According to the SPC storm reports, there was hail in Nebraska at 4.25″. This storm system will not move our way and it is likely that it will be weakening over the next couple of days.
Enjoy your weekend!
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Last night’s strong storms and heavy rains have exited Acadiana with nasty storms pounding Baton Rouge and New Orleans earlier today. Rain totals across the area were in the 1-3 inch range while some spots received closer to 2-4 inches, and most if it in about one hour! The few spotty showers left over early this evening will dissipate very late tonight (still some lingering moisture and pesky showers showing up on radar at 10pm). Weak high pressure and more sunshine will rebuild across the area this weekend. This should allow for temperatures to reach into the upper 80s for Saturday and Sunday, and with dew points staying near 70, it will officially feel like summer this weekend! There will be a very slight chance of an isolated shower tomorrow and Sunday with rain chances improving as we go into next week.
The IPCC issued another report today highlighting what we need to do to keep the current warming trend in check…and there was some optimism if everyone can cooperate You can learn more at abc.com. Have a good weekend!
After a round of heavy morning storms, much of Acadiana enjoyed a quiet day with some limited sunshine and warm temperatures. Unfortunately that allowed the atmosphere to destabilize over Acadiana making for another round of nasty storms later tonight. Strong to severe storms have been pounding Southeast Texas this afternoon with activity getting ready to edge into Louisiana at press time. A couple of tornado watches have been issued for Southwest and Central Louisiana with the threat of severe weather for all of Acadiana through the late night early morning hours. Although we lose the daytime heating component in our severe weather scenario, plenty of cold air and favorable winds aloft should keep the storms fueled well into the night, but I would expect some weakening after the midnight hour. Nonetheless some storms will be capable of frequent cloud to ground lightning and torrential downpours. There may be isolated pockets of hail and/or high winds, with an isolated tornado possible, but less likely deeper into the nighttime hours. We could see the convective complex evolve into a heavy rain-maker later tonight so the possibility of two to three inches of precipitation will be likely with isolated areas possibly seeing 3-5 inches. Keep it tuned to KATC for the latest… Lingering showers and storms will migrate toward the coast by late Friday morning into the afternoon hours with more stable air moving in from the north and west. This weekend should feel quite summer-like with highs in the upper 80s to near 90 with uncomfortable humidity. Rain chances will be slight this weekend but could improve early and again late next week.