Louisiana Braces for Rainy Week, Possible Tropical Development in the Gulf of Mexico

The last week or so has been pretty dry across Louisiana, but that is going to change as consistent rain chances will be in the forecast for much of the upcoming week.

According to KATC-TV 3 Meteorologist Daniel Phillips, those rains will start hitting southern Louisiana today (Sunday) to the tune of up to a 70% chance of rain, mostly in the late afternoon and early evening.

Things ramp up on Monday with more widespread rain likely by the afternoon with storm coverage of 70-80%.

The chance of flash flooding will increase as well. Some models show rainfall totals of 1-3 inches through tomorrow with higher isolated amounts possible.

The same pattern will hold for Tuesday, however, the heaviest rain may shift toward southeastern Texas. Overall, we could see 2 to 5 inches of rain across Acadiana through Wednesday.

By Wednesday through Friday, the tropical moisture will pull away from the area, but still leaving storm chances in the isolated to widely scattered range of about 40-55%.

The plus with all this rain is lower temperatures in the interim. High temperatures for Monday and Tuesday will be in the low 80s before gradually ramping back up to the low 90s by Friday into next weekend.

All this could be affected by a potential tropical depression or storm that's lurking right now in the western Gulf of Mexico.

If it were to develop, the result could be even heavier rainfall and coastal flooding, high surf, and rip currents from Louisiana and Texas to parts of Mexico and Central America.

Right now the National Weather Service has a medium chance for potential development (with the scale being Low, Medium, or High).

We'll probably have a better handle by Monday if and when this potential storm develops.