Louisiana Bracing for More Severe Weather

Weather-weary residents of Louisiana are once again preparing for what could be yet another onslaught of strong to severe storms and tornadoes as we approach the end of the work week. According to the National Weather Service, there have already been 458 confirmed tornadoes in the United States this year. That number might be higher since parts of the country experienced severe storms yesterday and last night.

Louisiana appears to be in line for its share of the bad weather especially late Thursday and into the day on Friday. The Storm Prediction Center is forecasting that the northwestern half of the state will be at a marginal to slight risk for severe storms on Thursday. That's the graphic you see above.

While on Friday the severe storm focus will shift further south to include parts of  Southwest Louisiana and Acadiana. Here's how that looks graphically.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles are telling us that rain chances and the threat of strong storms will ramp up across the I-10 corridor during the morning hours of Friday.

While there could be showers or storms in the early morning hours of Friday, as of now it looks as if our best threat for bad weather in the Lafayette and Lake Charles area will come after 8 am on Friday morning. That threat will stay will us throughout most of the day.

KATC Chief Meteorologist Rob Perillo has been looking at different weather models and he featured this graphic from a recent run of the European Weather Model. As you can see, it puts a lot of rain and wet weather over the heart of South Louisiana by midday on Friday.

As you can see in the graphic above, the bulk of the heaviest rainfall appears to be staying north of I-10. Of course, this is one model projection and not an official forecast. But using model guidance here's what the predicted rainfall could be as this storm system, including an upper-level low-pressure, make its way across the state.

Rainfall amounts appear to be higher in cities like Alexandria and Leesville than they do in cities like Lafayette, New Iberia, or Lake Charles. Of course, weather forecasts are not written in stone and this one will have to be fine-tuned as we move into Thursday.

The bottom line is this, showers and storms, some heavy or possibly severe will once again be a part of your plans in South Louisiana from late Thursday night through the early morning hours of Saturday. The payoff from these storms on Thursday and Friday will be an exceptional weekend with clear skies and cool temperatures.

It's a shame we can't bottle that forecast and save it for next week's Festival International in Lafayette. Although, the extended outlook for the festival's run next week isn't that bad anyway.