Weather Service Expands Friday’s Severe Threat for Louisiana

Earlier this week severe storms pounded portions of Louisiana. There was golf ball-sized hail reported in Acadia Parish. Wind damage was reported near the town of Duson, Louisiana. And, the city of New Orleans experienced another round of street flooding because of heavy downpours. That was how Louisiana's weather week got started. It looks as if The Boot will wrap up the week in a similar fashion.

The Storm Prediction Center, the severe weather specialist for NOAA and the National Weather Service had been predicting a round of storms for Louisiana and the Gulf South since this past weekend. But as we have moved through the week those forecasters have fine-tuned the outlook for Louisiana and expanded the state's risk for severe storms on Friday.

Compared to the forecast that was issued earlier, the SPC has expanded the slight risk of severe storms from Louisiana's midsection to just about the entire state. The only portion of the state that is not under a slight risk of severe storms is the coastal parishes. And those parishes are included in a marginal risk for severe storms, according to the SPC.

If you're not sure what terms such as "marginal", "slight", and "enhanced" mean when it comes to severe storms, this graphic should help clear things up.

The silver lining in Friday's round of storms is that the threat should be rather short-lived as far as Louisiana is concerned. Based on the National Weather Service Forecast from the Lake Charles Office rain chances will begin building across the area Friday morning.

The best chance for cities such as Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and Alexandria to experience strong to severe storms will come in the late morning and afternoon hours. As we move into Friday evening there may still be lingering showers or sprinkles but the heaviest of the storms should be moving away from the area by then.

Rob Perillo, Chief Meteorologist for KATC Television in Lafayette, Louisiana is suggesting the main threat from Friday's storms will be similar to the threat we saw on Tuesday. Namely, high winds and the potential for hail in some of the more intense thunderstorms.

As you plan your weekend we should note that temperatures will be about ten degrees cooler on Saturday than they are today. It won't be a "cold" cold front but we will cool off and be subjected to lower humidity levels for the weekend. Things should remain quiet for the start of the next work week with a threat of showers in the area again by next Wednesday.