Thursday, September 5, 2013

Hot & Humid, A Few Storms into the Weekend

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

Remember, September is still summer . . . and Mother Nature will be delivering a sure reminder with highs reaching the mid 90°s for many WAFB neighborhoods over the coming days!  In fact, highs are expected to return to the 90°s each day right through the 7-day outlook.  Morning lows for metro Baton Rouge will run in the low 70°s through the 7-day period as well, an indication that moist Gulf air will be in place, with no significant relief in the humidity any time soon.

That means that as the fall season of Live After Five kicks off Friday evening, be ready to deal with some rather warm weather! The good news is that rain chances should be pretty slim as the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra takes the stage at 5 PM.

Upper-level ridging remains locked over the nation’s mid-section, placing Louisiana on the southeastern edge of the same high pressure dome that will keep much of the central and northern Plains hot and dry, further extending the drought that has plagued many central and western states this summer.
In addition to warmer-than-normal weather, the upper-air ridging will minimize rain chances for the WAFB viewing area through the weekend and into next week.  We’re posting rain chances through Tuesday at 20% or less each day.
So the recent hit-or-miss rains we’ve seen during the past few days will continue.  That’s leading to a regional situation where some of WAFB neighborhoods are in serious need of a good rain, while adjacent areas are doing just fine.  No doubt, some of you will be running the sprinklers this weekend.
In the tropics, we’ve got a few areas of interest as of Thursday afternoon.
Gabrielle, located near Puerto Rico, was downgraded to a depression earlier today and is really struggling to survive.  ‘She’ is not expected to be around long -- the National Hurricane Center (NHC) has indicated that ‘Gabby’ could be further downgraded to a remnant low at almost any time.

To Gabrielle’s east, a broad area of low pressure is gaining some interest, but regardless of what happens there, it will likely move northward and remain over the open Atlantic.
A ‘Hurricane Hunter’ checked-out the low pressure area in the western Gulf this afternoon but found no evidence of organization.  It offers no threat to the U.S. Gulf Coast, although the NHC is giving this area a 50-50 chance of becoming a depression before it moves inland over northern Mexico during the next couple of days.

And finally, a tropical wave in the eastern Atlantic also has gained the NHC’s interest ... but it is too far out and too poorly organized for our concern at this stage.

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