Heavy Rain Chances for the Gulf Coast This Weekend

After talking about heavy snow over the past few days, let’s change the subject and talk about some heavy rain chances.  We have heavy rain potential in the forecast for parts of the Gulf Coast.  This includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and parts of Florida.

Heavy Rain Setup

An area of high pressure will be moving over the Mid-Atlantic this weekend.  Clockwise flow around this high will bring increasing Gulf moisture over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.  This moisture will be available for a developing area of low pressure moving out of the western Gulf of Mexico.  There could even be some thunderstorms in the forecast for parts of Louisiana by Saturday afternoon.

Severe Weather Risk

The Storm Prediction Center has already issued a “Marginal” risk of severe weather for parts of southwest Louisiana.  This means there will be a chance for thunderstorms and there could be an isolated storm that turns strong or severe.  The main weather threat will be heavy rain, but an isolated threat of damaging winds and large hail will be possible.

Rainfall Forecast

Flash flooding will be possible for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with the potential of 1 to 4 inches of rainfall.  Flood advisories and flood warnings will be possible for Saturday afternoon and evening.

Drought Relief

This heavy rain threat will actually be very beneficial for parts of the southeast where severe to extreme drought conditions are taking place.

Meteorologist Patrick Crawford