Bravo Eclipse, Beware Western Gulf...

As many of you know from watching me over the years, I am not a big Astronomy fan.  Usually, the events are over-hyped and not fulfilling whether it be meteor showers, planet alignments or eclipses.  Today was different.  The total eclipse didn’t disappoint.  I followed it on TV, saw it live here in Metairie and found it to be one of those “once in a lifetime” events.  I watched it live courtesy of Fr. Tim Hedrick at St. Catherine’s in Metairie who had those special eclipse glasses.  Then I went home to let Bailey go out in the backyard, and to my surprise, I saw the eclipse again.  How?   The sunlight filtering down through the leaves on my trees acted as a pinhole of light projecting on my patio.  You could actually see the half sun on the patio.  Amazing.  It was a truly special event. 

Now back to what is more important, hurricane season.  Satellite views of Harvey continue to show no development.  However, both the GFS (Global Forecast System) & Euro models redevelop Harvey into a Tropical Storm and bring him to the NW making landfall in extreme south Texas.  That would not cause any problems here, however, it’s what the models do after landfall that sends up the red flags for us for next week.  The GFS takes Harvey on a slow track inland north of Houston and across north Louisiana.  This sets up a potential heavy rain situation on the “wet side” which would be Louisiana.  The Euro is even worse taking Harvey back out over the Gulf south of Galveston and along the Louisiana coast as a strong storm or possible hurricane for Tuesday or Wednesday.  Either solution makes me nervous, but remember, there is nothing there yet.     I just want everyone to pay attention in case these models are on to something.  IF the models are correct, next Monday thru Thursday will be the time frame where we could see some serious flooding problems ,especially since Orleans has the issues with their pumping capacity.   NHC (National Hurricane Center) is not really talking about that possibility yet.  It may not happen.  The models could be GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) and totally out to lunch.   Then again, if they are correct, we will have a tropical threat next week & Gramps will be back on-air helping out the FOX 8 Weather Team.  Stay tuned!