Acadiana Rainfall – How Much More, How Much Longer?
This has been one of the wettest weeks that I can recall in the last 25 years that I have spent observing the weather in Louisiana. True, in 2016 we did get wetter but that happened over the course of a day or two. It has rained significantly in Acadiana every day this week but it does look as if we are closer to the end than we are to the beginning.
Atmospherically speaking, Acadiana has been caught in a funnel of moisture, so to speak. We have a high-pressure system to our east and a low-pressure system to our west. The circulation between these two pressure centers has literally sucked moisture from the Gulf of Mexico over Louisiana and that's what has caused our overabundance of precipitation.
It does look as if those systems and a potential tropical threat in the western Gulf of Mexico are about to move on out of the way. But before they do we could see another day of tropicalesque downpours. Rainfall amounts of two to three additional inches in certain locales can't be ruled out before the rainmaking ceases.
By the way, the cessation of the rainfall is likely to come later this evening. Today's rain chances according to the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Lake Charles are at 90%. That means almost all of us will experience some measurable precipitation today.
By tonight, rainfall probabilities will drop to 30%. Then the forecast brightens up for most of next week with mostly sunny conditions expected from Saturday through next Friday.
This break in the weather should coincide perfectly with NCAA Regional Softball play in Baton Rouge this weekend and Localpalooza a free music and arts celebration in downtown Lafayette on Saturday. I am just hoping to get my grass cut before I lose a small dog in the front yard.
Speaking of chores around the house.