Oh What A Night !!!

2 separate waves/bands of heavy rainfall moved across the South Shore, but it was the one just before daybreak that was the real banger.  MSY recorded 2.60" in one hour with an overnight total of nearly 5".  Needless to say, with that type of intensity, our pumps couldn't keep up and there was widespread street flooding.   Fortunately the rains moved on, the pumps caught up and Mother's Day 2019 turned out to be an OK day.   Now to show you how nasty it got, I am a light sleeper and use earplugs to keep out any noise and I wear eyeshades to block out any light. (strange I know!)  The lightning was so vivid & the thunder so loud that I awoke several times during the storm!   Add in my FOX 8 Weather App going off and it was a difficult morning to stay asleep.   As I mentioned in previous posts, the upper pattern has finally changed as the SW upper flow is gone replaced with a flatter (drier) west to east flow that will hang around all week.   That should mean this week will be mostly dry with a gradual warming trend.  The SW upper flow won't be back until the following week when we could get stormy again.  But in the short term, we will enjoy much improved weather.

The next crest on the Mississippi is nearing Memphis and should reach us in another week.   With the Spillway opened again, the Carrollton gage is expected to hover around 17' before a substantial drop occurs after the 20th.   This has been the longest stretch of high water that I can ever remember going back into November of 2018.   Spoke with my sister in Indiana tonight and they are sick of all the rain up there too, except it's also been very chilly (40s).   Most farmers are 2-3 weeks behind schedule in planting their summer wheat, corn & soybeans.   It appears the next 7-10 days will see a break from all the widespread heavy rainfall and hopefully allow some planting to begin.  Growing up there in my youth was an old saying about Indiana sweet corn..."knee high by the 4th of July."   The only thing knee high right now is the mud in the fields!  Stay tuned!