47 years ago today, Hurricane Hilda roared into South Louisiana just west of Morgan City as a Cat. 3 storm with winds of 115 mph. 22 folks died from a srong tornado near LaRose. Hilda is the lastest major Hurricane to cross the Louisiana coast in modern times. Even the 1893 storm made landfall on Oct. 2nd. So history tells us that we still can have late season Hurricanes, but they will be much weaker and our re-inforced levee system should easily handle any storm surge. Unless there is a major pattern shift in the next 3-4 weeks, the northern Gulf is likely home free for the rest of this year. Mr. Bastardi is reminding me that the MJO will enter the "favorable" stage after Oct. 15th and there could be a spin up down over the western Caribbean. It may head towards the Gulf but the westerly wind shear should steer it far to our east. Stay tuned!
In the short term, the 55 degree low at MSY is the earliest in the past 6 years that our morning lows dipped into the 50s. We are running 1-2 weeks ahead as our 1st 50 degree night usually doesn't happen until oct. 10-20th. Few complaints though as highs warm to 75-80 with low humidity. Enjoy it as the muggies return later this week.
6 comments:
As I recall, Mr. Bastardi forecast a "hurricane frenzy" for the past six weeks that never materialized.
By the way, thank you to the Webmaster for the new mobile blog format. It is much easier to read on my iPhone.
Just noticed - the countdown timer for hurricane season at the bottom of Bob's main page is a month short. Shouldn't it read 58 days, not 28?
You're welcome Mike. We are always looking for ways to improve.
Good catch Mike. I have made the change. Hopefully for New Orleans it will be over sooner than the 58 days.
Mike P...Cut Mr. Joe some slack. We did have a storm frenzy. Katia stayed out to sea but she was a Hurricane. Irene did major damage and Lee was no softie. Again, with the MJO going favorable, look for more storms during the next 2-3 weeks. More on tonight's update later.
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