The National Weather Service in Lake Charles has just issued their storm surveys from the tornadoes reported in Cameron and Calcasieu Parishes with both tornadoes reported at EF0 (65-85mph) winds. In addition to some reports of up to golf ball size hail and sporadic light wind damage, addition EF0 tornado damage was surveyed in Northern St Landry Parish into Southern Avoyelles Parish in the vicinity of Morrow, Big Cane and DuPont. I erroneously reported an EF1 tornado at Palmetto for last night, but it was the survey from the early morning tornado we saw on the 17th. The data came in together with the surveys from last night and I hastily added it to our graphics just before my weathercast at 600pm. Apologies for the confusion.
After a rough couple of weeks of weather we are expecting a nice and quiet weekend…and a relatively quiet 7-8 days, with the exception of a strong cold front for next Tuesday. In the near-term expect mostly cloudy, breezy and cooler conditions tonight with lows dropping into the mid-upper 40s by morning. Lots of sunshine and seasonable temperatures are expected for tomorrow with highs reaching the upper 60s to near 70. Sunday will bring some clouds, especially to the west with warmer temperatures reaching the low-mid 70s. We may be pushing 80 degrees on Monday with partly cloudy skies ahead of a strong cold front that will barrel through the area Tuesday morning. The moisture return before the front should be limited but there will likely be some shower activity late Monday night into early Tuesday morning. Some storms may be possible but we’re not expecting any severe weather for now. Much colder air will pour in for Tuesday with temperatures dropping into the 30s for Wednesday morning and perhaps to a frosty lower-mid 30s for Thursday morning. Milder temperatures will return for Friday into the following weekend. The long range models have been fairly consistent indicating a rather strong weather system around the 2nd or 3rd of March so consider this a really early heads-up! Have a good weekend!