Trending Drier & Hotter

By Jay Grymes & Steve Caparotta

WAFB Storm Team QuickCast:

- scattered PM rains on Tuesday

- getting drier as the week progresses

- looks like 90°s finally arrive later this week

** A reminder that the WAFB Storm Team’s hurricane special, “The 5th Season” airs tonight, right after the 6:00pm newscast.  We’ll be looking at a variety of topics including: El Niño, ‘Pet Preparedness’ during a storm, the Business Emergency Operations Center at LSU, and recent storm-surge forecast improvements. **

Also, for fans of the night sky, we’ll get a 6-minute look at the International Space Station (ISS) this evening if the clouds cooperate.  Viewing will begin along the southwestern horizon at 9:37pm (your phone likely has a compass tool) with the ISS climbing more than halfway overhead as it heads towards the northeastern horizon.

As for our weather, we watched as a steady fetch from the southeast brought scattered showers and t-storms into the viewing area today.  Most of the rains came during the afternoon but there were a few showers evident on Titan9 Doppler early this morning.  Thankfully, rain totals today were generally under one-half-inch for most WAFB neighborhoods.

Along the area rivers, the Amite showed a second peak at Denham Springs today (as expected), with a minor “wave crest” expected in Port Vincent and French Settlement tomorrow.  The lower Amite can expect water levels to remain close to where they are today through mid-week.  As for the Tickfaw, Holden is showing a steady fall although water levels are likely to remain fairly steady for the next couple of days at Killian.  The Tangipahoa at Robert is falling but remains “in flood” -- that site should drop below flood stage tomorrow morning or mid-day.

Our forecast shows considerable improvement for those looking for a dry spell.  Although we’ll carry a 30% to 40% rain chance in the local forecast for Tuesday, our outlook calls for mainly-dry days from Wednesday through Friday.  At this stage we also expect Saturday to remain dry but will toss-in a 20% chance for afternoon showers on Sunday.

Southeasterly winds through the week will deliver a steady feed of warm-and-moist Gulf air.  Plan on muggy mornings this week with sunrise temperatures in the upper 60°s to low 70°s and patchy morning fog in the usual suspect spots.  Once we get past the modest rain chances on Tuesday, the “drier” pattern we’re expecting this week should mean highs climbing into the low 90°s by mid-week.

By the way, we’re into June and have yet to see a 90° day at Metro Airport.  That’s rather unusual: in fact, this marks only the ninth time since 1930 when the first 90°-day of the year occurred after May 31st.  You’ve got to go back to June 7, 1994 for the last year that the first 90° held off until June.

As a reminder, we’re now into the Hurricane Season: are you ready?  Remember how you fared during Gustav or Isaac?  What more could you have done to better prepare yourself, your family, and your interests?  Check out WAFB’s Hurricane Center at WAFB.com for helpful hints and preparedness guidance!  And “Get a Game Plan.”