Tropical Forecast Puts La. in the Path of Hurricane This Week

LAFAYETTE, La. (KPEL News)—The National Hurricane Center's Sunday evening forecast puts a probable hurricane headed toward south Louisiana this week, with Acadiana included in the "cone of uncertainty."

The latest forecast shows a quickly developing system that has a potential tropical cyclone becoming a tropical storm and hurricane by Wednesday.

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Potential Tropical Cyclone Six is expected to bring heavy rainfall, according to forecasts, and the risk of flash flooding from the coast of far northeast Mexico into portions of coastal Texas and Louisiana through Thursday.

Credit: National Hurricane Center/NOAA

There are several potential paths for the storm, but most of them have it making its official landfall in either southeast Texas or southwest Louisiana.

The "Cone of Uncertainty" shows that much of the Louisiana coastline is a potential target for landfall, however, and all of Louisiana needs to be preparing for eventual landfall. According to The Advocate, experts are saying South Louisiana should prepare for a Category 1 hurricane.

If it becomes a named storm, it would be the sixth named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, which would be "Francine."

Credit: National Hurricane Center/NOAA

We're only halfway through the current hurricane season, and most forecasters are still expecting an "above average" season, but we certainly have not seen some of the numbers we were expecting back when the season began in June.

Original forecasts for the season called for for 17-25 named storms, and so far we've only seen five. However, the warm waters of the tropics, combined with other atmospheric activity, are paving the way for storms to begin developing again.

This is a developing story, and the KPEL News Team is working to provide additional coverage for Acadiana. Updates will be shared as they become available, so download the KPEL News app via Google Play or in the App Store and subscribe to breaking news alerts to get the latest information sent directly to your mobile device.

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