northgawx

We’ve got a wet weekend ahead as Laura’s remnants cross our area.

Hurricane Laura made landfall as a strong Category 4 storm over Cameron, LA early Thursday morning. The storm has pushed inland bringing damaging winds, tornadoes and destructive flooding to much of Arkansas and Louisiana. The remnants of the storm will interact and merge with a trough/front over the next 24 hours and begin a VERY fast push to the east. Widespread showers and storms are expected to reach our area by Friday night, though quite a few showers and storms are likely to develop Friday afternoon as well.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed us under a marginal (level 1/5) risk for severe storms overnight Friday as the low pressure makes its closest approach. The primary risk will be for damaging winds with an extremely isolated tornado threat possible as well. In addition, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some gusty winds with any of the stronger cells that develop on Friday afternoon as well but that threat appears limited also. The greatest threats will probably come over NW Georgia (Murray County and west) and then again to our northeast over North Carolina. The timing of this line of storms being overnight will work in our favor to keep the overall threat down due to the lower instability.

In addition to the severe threat some bonafide tropical moisture will be moving through so heavy rain is a decent bet. Fortunately the speed of the system will limit flooding potential. By mid-day Saturday we will be clearing out but unfortunately not cooling off. Another broken line of storms may develop late Saturday evening, so keep an eye out for that as well. You can see this line on the model output below.

For Sunday we’ll be cranking up the heat to near 90 but our proximity to a cold front will help keep storms popping up during the afternoon. Once again some gusty winds and heavy rain will be possible with the stronger cells. 

Enjoy your weekend and stay weather aware!~TW