Tropical rainstorm to dump flooding rain into Gulf Coast

AccuWeather

AccuWeather's Jon Porter warns of heavy rainfall to be dumped into the Gulf Coast by a tropical rainstorm this week, which will put the region, including Louisiana, at a high risk of flooding.

Transcript

00:00Here's the eyepath, and with that I do want to bring in our chief meteorologist, Jonathan Porter.

00:05And, John, you know, earlier we were talking about map discussion just ended.

00:10I don't see any changes in the eyepath, but you can let us know.

00:16Did we decide to make any changes with our eyepath?

00:20Now, here at AccuWeather we have 100 expert meteorologists that are working together

00:24and debating every aspect of the storm, watching its every move.

00:28And we've made no changes to our forecast at this time.

00:32As you mentioned, the storm itself is disorganized, but there's lots of showers and thunderstorms,

00:38and that continues to be our main focus here in terms of the heavy rain risk

00:42as the storm slowly drifts westward in the Gulf of America toward Louisiana.

00:48And we remain very concerned about especially heavy rain risks and flooding across Louisiana.

00:54And when you look at our impact, John, listen, we're forecasting a tropical depression.

01:00We don't normally go with a moderate risk, but you see that moderate risk across southern Louisiana

01:07and an AccuWeather real impact scale of one.

01:12Let's go over that quickly for our viewers that may not have a clear understanding

01:18of what the AccuWeather real impact scale is.

01:21This is another exclusive AccuWeather tool to help you stay safer and best prepared,

01:26whereas other weather sources look at simply the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale,

01:32which rates a tropical storm or hurricane based solely on its wind intensity.

01:37AccuWeather's real impact scale for hurricanes, of course, we consider the wind,

01:41but we also consider other factors to get a holistic view,

01:45the most holistic view of a tropical storm or a tropical rainstorm's risk,

01:49including flooding rain, storm surge, and total damage and economic loss.

01:54And it's on that basis that a storm like this one,

01:57which may not even be designated on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale,

02:02is a one on the AccuWeather real impact scale for hurricanes

02:05because we're concerned about that flooding risk.

02:08And it may not be widespread, Bernie.

02:10It may be a more localized flooding event than what happens with other tropical rainstorms.

02:15But we're concerned about the rain rates of one to three inches per hour

02:18in some parts of far east Texas, Louisiana,

02:22as we head through the coming days and a resulting risk of flash flooding.

02:27And some of that could be quite significant in some areas.

02:30You know, you were just talking to the crystal ball meteorologist Joe Lumberg,

02:33even beyond this, that there's some concern that some of this moisture may try to get northward

02:39in toward the Midwest with frontal boundaries coming south.

02:42And that could be a problem.

02:43We are concerned about that because the rainstorm itself looks like it would diminish across

02:49and sort of rain itself out across parts of the southern part of the Mississippi Valley.

02:55But a part of that moisture is going to get drawn to the north.

02:59And coupling that with an active jet stream,

03:02we have concerns about the risk for flash flooding once again across parts of the Midwest,

03:07Appalachians, and maybe even, I'm sorry, Midwest, the Ohio Valley,

03:11and even in the Appalachians later next week.

03:14So stay tuned to AccuWeather for more on that.

03:16AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist John Porter.

03:18John, thanks for joining us here on AccuWeather Early.

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