Monday, October 26, 2015

Needed Rainfall, Ground Soaked it up!

After I first arrived in New Orleans back in April 1978, we had the 1st “100 year flood” on May 3rd.    8-12 inches of rain swamped the pumping stations and travel around the city was difficult with water into many homes.   38 years later, 5-9”+ drenched the city with only minimal street flooding.  Sure the amounts weren’t as great, but 3 other things were at play.  1) Pumping capacity has been increased , 2) we went nearly 4 weeks without rain and  3) the rain amounts were spread out over 2 days, never concentrated in only a few hours allowing the pumps to stay ahead of any flooding.      The ground really soaked up the moisture and NWS cancelled most river flood warnings as levels quickly fell as a quick rise.   We should see little rainfall for the next 4-5 days before another Gulf low could develop over the weekend.  As I mentioned last night, we could see many Gulf Lows with this strong El Nino.

 

In the short term, Clouds and a leftover shower will linger into Tuesday afternoon.  Sunshine will be back for Wed-Friday allowing our plants & lawns to really take off (grow) after these soaking rains.  Stay tuned!

No comments: