Six to ten inches or more of rain is possible this week for much of south Louisiana as a result of an approaching tropical disturbance expected to reach southwest Louisiana tomorrow night. Meteorologist Donald Jones with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles says a tropical wave moving up the Texas coastline is main contributor for all of the rain and it’s moving slowly.
“There’s going to be, obviously, a lot of tropical moisture with it, so we’ll be looking at very high rain chances and pretty consistent rain across the area through as late as Friday evening,” Jones explained.
Jones says there is the possibility this low-pressure system could develop into a tropical storm before the center of the system reaches southwest Louisiana tomorrow night.
“The limiting factor, though, is that it’s only going to have that 24-to-30-hour period for it to actually develop; so not a whole lot of time for it to get its act together,” Jones noted.
A tropical storm watch extends from Sargent, Texas to Morgan City. That means tropical storm conditions are possible in the area in the next 24 to 36 hours. If the Gulf disturbance develops into a named storm, it will be called Tropical Storm Arthur. Forecasters give it a medium chance of developing into a named storm.
Jones says if this system does develop into a tropical storm, it would be categorized as a weak tropical storm, but sometimes this type of storm can be very problematic because of its ability to produce flooding.
“We all talk about the strong winds and the major hurricanes; but these are kind of the quiet damage producers, in that they drop a whole lot of rainfall,” Jones said.