And Rain It Did !!!

Kudos to the computer models that correctly indicated Thursday would be a wet day.  However, the models underestimated the duration and total rainfall.  Many locations south of Lake P. had 3-4"+ with several FOX 8 observers exceeding 6"+.  By any standard, today went straight into the dumper (Dumpster) as the rains began around 7 AM, intensified around 11 AM and finally let up after 3 PM.  Street flooding closed many intersections and made travel around the city difficult for hours.  The upper disturbance has moved on, but a trailing boundary will linger across SE LA/MS on Friday keeping some showers around.   Saturday looks mainly dry & warmer (80s) with Sunday warm & summer-like before more storms arrive late in the day ahead of our next front.  The energy with Sunday's system looks stronger so we'll have to be alert for possible severe storms late Sunday PM into the evening hours.  Monday will have lingering clouds & showers before we turn slightly cooler but much drier for Tuesday into Thursday.

45 years ago I was a young (26) TV weathercaster at WDTN-TV2 in Dayton, Ohio.  We had no cell phones, no live radars & no computer graphics.  One of the worst tornado outbreaks developed April 3-4 with nearly 150 tornado reports, many of them being F 4 & 5 intensity.  One F 5 struck down 25 miles SE of Dayton in Xenia, Ohio killing 32 people and injuring many more.  I was on the air first with the warning (came over teletype back then) at 4:25 pm with the touchdown at 4:40.  Why did so many die?   Xenia did have sirens, but unless you happened to be watching TV or listening to the radio, there was no other way to get folks the warning.   No Weather radio, no phone weather apps, certainly nothing like what we have today.  I remember going to bed that night still scared after seeing the destruction.  Being so young, I didn't fully grasp how close I came to death.   Now being older, hopefully wiser, I realize life doesn't last forever. However, with a little warning from your FOX 8 weather app, you can possibly delay the inevitable?   Stay tuned!