Louisiana Facing Severe Weather Threat – Heatwave Set to Return

The Louisiana forecast continues to vacillate between periods of extreme and scorching heat, periods of torrential downpours, and periods of high winds, hail, and possible rotating storms. For a lot of people that might seem like a very active and violent weather pattern, around here we call it "July". And it looks as if "July" is about to give us our money's worth as we head into the heart of the summertime.

First, the immediate threat is a marginal risk of severe storms for portions of Louisiana today. As you can see in the graphic below from the Storm Prediction Center, the northern half of the state is where the heaviest storms are forecast today. The southern portion of the state will have storms, some of them could get heavy, but the likelihood of severe weather doesn't appear to be that great.

If you've been anywhere in Louisiana or Texas over the past three weeks you are quite familiar with terms like heat advisory or excessive heat warning. Over the past few days, we've gotten reacquainted with severe storm threats and possible flash flooding. You're probably asking, "What's next"?

Here's what you can expect along the I-10 corridor over the next four days. This should carry you into the weekend, by the way.

You've probably noticed that the daytime high temperature is increasing every day. However, the key indicator to look at is the heat index. You can see by Sunday that has crept back to a dangerous level. Fortunately, the rain threat will help keep some of those above-normal temperatures at bay, at least we hope they will.

The reason we are hoping the rain chances will remain normal or above is because of this next graphic, just like the one above, that was provided by the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Lake Charles. 

That is the temperature outlook for next week, the 13th through the 19th and you have probably figured out that most of Louisiana is in a red or orange shade and that means hot. According to NOAA and the NWS Louisiana residents will experience a better than 60% probability of above-normal temperatures over the aforementioned time period.

So, now that we have some rain and slightly cooler temperatures for a few days it would be a good time to have your HVAC system serviced. You could at least clean or change the filter. And do a few other things that will help your AC run better during these "rain-cooled" afternoons and perform better during the "sun spiked" days ahead.