Burrr, Drought Buster Storms Almost Make it Chilly

We all know most of Louisiana & southern Mississippi is in an extreme to exceptional drought caused by the lack of daily storms all summer.  It will take more than one wet day to get us out of drought & the state's burn ban, but today has been a good start.  We finally got into widespread slow moving heavy T-Storms that began first on the North Shore & built back to the South Shore after the noon hour.  A radar review tells the story.

You can read the time stamp at the bottom of the radar views and it's still raining in man locations.  Rainfall amounts of 4-7" are common across eastern St. Tammany/Washington Parishes extending into Pearl River county in Mississippi. Water filled the underpass on I-10 at Metairie Road shutting down the interstate for a time.  There are some benefits from the clouds and rain.  I almost had to get out a sweater!  Look at my thermometer during the height of the downpour.

Okay, so I exaggerate a bit.  Still, high 70s to near 80 feels comfortable.  You can see who's not getting wet as their temps are 90+. Note the lack of showers along the beaches to our east.  That's drier air in the mid levels spreading our way.  So what the heck triggered today's gully washers?  Let me explain what I think happened.

On the top satellite view, I've drawn the upper low over northern Arkansas with a weak upper high down over the Gulf.  We are in between these two with the splitting of the upper flow happening right over our state.  There is a boundary /tropical wave aligned north to south that focused surface convergence with the upper low & high creating upper divergence.  That acted like opening the flue on your fireplace allowing the fire (storms) to roar.  There was a "burst point" right over the South Shore for many hours.  That should not be the case tomorrow as the upper low pulls farther away.  Of course, with fewer showers around, expect temps to soar back into the 90s for the rest of this week.

Alas, I must talk about the Tropics.  The good news is we will see no Tropical threats in the Gulf for the next 7-10 days.  However, all signs point to Invest 95 L way out in the Atlantic becoming our next named storms maybe as soon as tomorrow.

Just looking at the last daylight satellite view, it sure looks like we have at least a Tropical Depression.  

NHC is giving 95 L  a 100%  for development ( translation - it's gonna happen!) .  Computer models track the storm towards the northern Leeward Islands for this weekend, but it is far too early to say whether it will make the turn to the north before it threatens any land areas.  We are in the heart/peak of the hurricane season so don't be surprised if the next name (Lee) becomes a major hurricane as that's what happens in September.  For now, we need the current rains to end!  Stay tuned!