Flood Watches are in effect for much of Southern Louisiana through Thursday morning including the I-10 and coastal parishes in Acadiana. Rainfall totals over the next several days will generally be in the 2-3″ range with isolated areas possibly receiving 5″ or more through Thursday.
KATC’s FutureCast is actually indicating much more rainfall over the next 72 hours across portions of Louisiana with hot spots over Southeast Louisiana and possibly coastal Acadiana exceeding 10″. What happens in “real-life” and on the computer are almost always two different things but the model is highlighting the potential for heavy rains….hopefully most of this will remain offshore.
Meanwhile Alex continues to churn and slowly intensify in the Southwestern Gulf of Mexico with landfall expected south of the Texas border Wednesday evening/night. Alex should become a hurricane later tonight as drier more stable air on the northwestern flank of this system has kept the system a tropical storm today. That drier air appeared to be getting sealed out of the system late this afternoon so the storm is likely very close to a hurricane as of this evening.
Gusty easterly winds offshore the Louisiana coast will likely ramp up Wednesday while swells from the south make for 4-8 foot seas close to home but deep water areas toward the oil spill will likely push into the 8-12 foot range. Tides along the coast were running 1 foot above normal today and should continue to near 2 feet above normal Wednesday. A Coastal Flood Advisory continues as of this evening for elevated tides expected through Thursday.