Significant Rainfall Event Likely for Louisiana This Week

The opportunities to use the words "significant", "rainfall", and "Louisiana" all in the same sentence have been few and far between since mid-July across the Sportsman's Paradise. The summer months were not only brutally hot, but they were exceptionally dry. The fall months have provided very little drought relief as well.

We should get new data concerning the drought in just a matter of days. It is expected that the rainfall parts of the state received last week eased the drought a little but not a lot. It's thought that this week's significant rainfall event might even do more to break the drought and return Louisiana to a more normal rainfall pattern.

However, this week's rainfall event should cover more of the state than last week's event did. Forecasters with the Weather Prediction Center are speculating that a large portion of South Louisiana from Lake Charles through Lafayette and as far north as Alexandria will receive two to three inches of rainfall between now and next Monday.

You can see that illustrated in the graphic above from KATC Television's Rob Perillo. Rob, in his blog on the TV station website, suggested that while we should get some beneficial rains over the next few days none of the storms are expected to reach severe levels, so that's a good thing.

However, the flip side to that coin will be the potential for localized street flooding and the potential for flash flooding as forecasters believe some of the showers and thunderstorms could produce large amounts of rain over a short period of time.

When Will the Wet Weather Begin in Louisiana?

Naturally, where you are in the state will play a big part in when the wet weather will arrive at your house. For North Louisiana expect rain chances to increase during the day on Wednesday. By Wednesday afternoon and evening the rain threat should be increasing over central and southern portions of the state.

Thursday appears to be the day with the greatest threat of the heaviest rain. As of now, rain chances are listed at 80% or better across most of the I-10 corridor in Southwest Louisiana. There will be a bit of a break in the rain Friday but by Saturday another significant threat of showers will approach the area as we move into the weekend.