Barry is barely a Tropical Storm with winds down to 40 mph. He will be downgraded later today, however, this storm still has a large area of rain & T-Storms and SPC (Storm Prediction Center) has placed areas north of Lake P. under a Tornado Watch for this afternoon. The center of Barry on radar is still ill-defined and is just east of Shreveport moving northward at 9 mph. On the visible (daylight) satellite loop you can still see several swirls rotating around Barry. He remains very asymmetric (lopsided) with the rain loaded on the eastern & southern sides. We are stuck under his rain shield for the rest of today and possibly into Monday as well. Over time expect the rain shield to shrink with a gradual return of some sunshine, especially by Tuesday & Wednesday. By then we'll be dealing with typical July pop up daytime heating T-Storms.
I have heard people use the usual clichés …"dodged a bullet, caught a break, blessed it missed, he underachieved." Correct to all of the above as most of the predicted dire consequences thankfully didn't happen. So what went wrong or right? As discussed before, the models had issues (were wrong). The Euro's track going farther west towards Lake Charles was better than the GFS's which brought the center closer to us. Both way over did the rainfall forecast with 20-25". Since rainfall is ongoing, a few spots could end up with 6-10", but the widespread flooding that was feared shouldn't happen except in spots to our west. . Storm surge is where the models were right on, projecting 3-6'. Water levels were surprising to me for such a disorganized storm. I think our sinking land coupled with rising sea levels result in flooding that seems to get worse with every storm. Since we still have the heart of Hurricane Season ahead of us and we'll probably have another threat or two, keep in mind the water that a strong Tropical Storm/weak Cat. 1 hurricane brought to us. When that Cat2+ comes, I hope many of you plan to flee to higher ground. It'll be the safest, smartest thing to do.
Again, bravo to all of the broadcasters and first responders for their long hours as they kept us informed and safe. I vote for no more threats this year! I mentioned yesterday that the most watched station during this event was FOX 8. They may be too humble to toot their own horn, but I can. Ch. 8 was the most watched station all day up until they went to major league baseball in the evening. The numbers for the 10 PM newscasts were as follows...FOX 8 15.58%, Ch. 4 10.95%, Ch. 6 8.58%, Ch. 26 0.26%. I am proud to still be connected to the new News Leader, FOX 8. Stay tuned!
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