Iso'd Showers, Less Humid Thursday

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

Two bands of strong to occasionally-severe t-storms slid southward from near the LA/MS line across portions of the western and central Florida Parishes during the afternoon. The first wave was the more intense of the two, generating considerable cloud-to-ground lightning, some gusting winds and pockets of “pea” to “nickel” sized hail as it approached the I-12. That first band prompted the NWS to issue two Severe T-Storm Warnings earlier in the afternoon for areas east of the greater BR metro area. The second storm cluster tracked slightly farther to the west, eventually impacting portions of eastern and southern EBR Parish and on into northern Ascension.

Picture of hail in the Watson/Walker area sent into 9reports.com

Today’s storms were mainly the result of an unstable air mass interacting with a nearly stationary frontal boundary draped across portions of south Louisiana. That front will continue to sag ever-so-slowly southward this evening and through the day on Thursday, serving as a regional focus for t-showers and keeping a slight chance of rain in the Thursday forecast.

Titan9 RPM model projection for 4 PM Thursday showing isolated showers and storms along a stalled front.

The WAFB area will stay in the “warm sector” with southeasterly flow bringing moisture off the Gulf for Friday and right through the weekend, while ridging takes control aloft. We’ll put spotty showers in the Friday afternoon forecast, but our outlook for the weekend calls for mainly dry weather for both Saturday and Sunday.
The mid-/upper-level ridge will keep a storm system and trailing cold front in the Southern Plains locked-up to our west through Monday. By late Monday, the ridge will weaken and retreat far enough to the east to allow the Plains system to advance, delivering a good chance for rain by Tuesday.

Don’t forget: the first of this spring's “Live After Five” series begins this Friday at 5PM in downtown Baton Rouge at the city’s all-new open venue at Galvez Plaza ... and the Ponchatoula Strawberry Festival kicks-off its annual three-day run on Friday as well!