Weather Service Confirms Severe Threat Looming for Louisiana

The old saying about Louisiana weather suggests that "if you wait ten minutes it will change". And while that might seem to be true, it usually takes a little longer than ten minutes. For example in Lafayette the temperature at 2 this morning was 52. Just one week ago at this same time, the temperature was 4 and we had several inches of snow on the ground.

But that was last week's weather worry, this week's weather worry for Lake Charles, Lafayette, Alexandria, Ruston, and Monroe is a more common threat, severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed all of Louisiana with the exception of the extreme northwest corner and southeastern third of the state at a slight risk for severe storms today. Those areas not under a slight risk of severe storms will be at a marginal risk for strong to severe storms later tonight and especially during the day on Thursday.

The above graphic from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Lake Charles shows the areas of concern for severe storms and offers a brief explanation of what is causing the chaos in the atmosphere.

A cold front to the west of Louisiana will be moving through the state later tonight and during the day on Thursday. That will provide enough instability in the atmosphere when combined with moisture from offshore should provide a recipe for storms with heavy rains, damaging winds, and isolated tornadoes.

The other concern that Louisiana must consider over the next 24 to 48 hours is the potential for flooding rains. The Weather Prediction Center has placed much of the same area that is under the severe weather threat at risk for an Excessive Rainfall Event.

That means it could rain very hard in a short period of time and that might compromise municipal drainage systems for a few hours. This could mean street flooding and some flash flooding in low-lying areas during the heavy downpours.

The worst of the weather will move across Louisiana during the day on Thursday with some of the heaviest rain and storms forecast for Thursday night. By Friday conditions should improve greatly with mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 70s. The weekend outlook appears to be very nice for Louisiana as well.