Weather Blog

Dave Nussbaum
dnussbaum@wbrz.com

Severe Weather:  Wow!  What an afternoon and evening across the Baton Rouge area.  Severe thunderstorms rolled through and produced very heavy rain, large hail, damaging winds and continuous lightning strikes.  Large hail was reported at I-10 at Highland, Siegen Lane, and along Bluebonnet.  I had dime size hail at my place and wind damage to some of the pool chairs and tables. 

These storms were set off by the combination of a sea breeze and an upper-level low moving across the Gulf of Mexico.  The upper-level low and a dominate area of high pressure over the Southeast U.S. interacted with each other to produce an area of strongly divergent winds aloft.  This same set up is forecast for today, and that is why we could see another round of strong storms today.

Short Term:  That upper-level low is located due south of New Orleans this morning.  With that in mind, we can expect another round of strong scattered showers and thunderstorms this afternoon and into tonight.  The main threats would be large hail, damaging winds, heavy rain and plenty of lightning.  The storms should early this afternoon and last into the evening.  Be sure to check back with News 2 for the latest weather updates. 

Weekend Outlook:  There will still be a chance for some afternoon thunderstorms, but the coverage will be far less than it has been.  Only about 20-30% of the area may see some rain.  With fewer storms, the temperatures will be able to climb into the mid 90s all weekend. 

Meteor Shower:  The annual Perseid Meteor shower is going on right now!  You can look up to the east sky each at night and see some meteors.  However, the peak is on Friday night.  For more information, click here.  You can also check out the meteor shower at LASM on Friday night.  The program starts at 7 PM, but you will want to get there no later than 6:30 PM. 

Tropics:  A tropical wave continues to move across parts of the Lesser Antilles.  This system is poorly organized, but still has the potential to develop into a tropical depression during the next day or so as it moves to the west through the Caribbean.  An Air Force recon Hurricane Hunter Aircraft is scheduled to investigate the system if necessary. 

Elsewhere. . .tropical storm formation is not expected through Friday.