Heavy Rain Just Beginning

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Lee is inland over southern Louisiana. Still has winds of 45 mph. It is beginning to drift to the northeast.

Here is the latest from the NHC…

BULLETIN
TROPICAL STORM LEE ADVISORY NUMBER 12
NWS NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL AL132011
1000 AM CDT SUN SEP 04 2011

…LEE DRIFTING NORTHEASTWARD OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL LOUISIANA…

SUMMARY OF 1000 AM CDT…1500 UTC…INFORMATION
———————————————–
LOCATION…29.9N 91.9W
ABOUT 45 MI…70 KM W OF MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA
ABOUT 30 MI…45 KM SSE OF LAFAYETTE LOUISIANA
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS…45 MPH…75 KM/H
PRESENT MOVEMENT…NE OR 40 DEGREES AT 3 MPH…6 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE…986 MB…29.12 INCHES

Three main areas of heavy rain setting up right now…

…one with the main convective feeder band over southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi
…second is outer convective band over Southeast Alabama and the eastern Florida Panhandle
…third is a deformation zone over northern Mississippi into Central Alabama…here you have air coming together at low levels and diverging aloft…this leads to rising air, clouds and rain. And with the tropical airmass, heavy rain.

In all three zones, rainfall rates will average one half inch per hour with isolated one inch per hour amounts.

In the two convective bands and in the areas where sun has emerged between them over southeastern Mississippi and Southwest Alabama, the threat of tornadoes will increase. A tornado watch extends across eastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle. Tornado warnings are in effect for Smith County in Central Mississippi, Harrison County along the coast and Washington County in the Florida Panhandle.

Overnight, the NWS Mobile reported a tornado in Pensacola and another in Perdido. Both did minor damage. A tornado was confirmed near Saucier in Mississippi.

6.25 inches of rain fell yesterday at the Louis Armstrong International Airport in New Orleans. That was a record for the date.

Rainfall totals since Thursday across Southeast Louisiana…

N.O. AUDUBON…10.79″
N.O. ARMSTRONG…8.97″
BILOXI…8.97″
N.O. LAKEFRONT…8.90″
GULFPORT…7.46″
BOOTHVILLE…7.40″
BATON ROUGE…7.03″
SLIDELL AIRPORT…6.57″

A few tropical storm force wind reports have been received from Louisiana including a sustained wind of 46 mph and a 58 mph gust at the Lakefront Airport in New Orleans just before 6:30 this morning. Baton Rouge just recorded a gust to 43 mph at 10:49 a.m.

Winds are averaging 20 mph along the Mississippi coast with gusts to near 30 mph. In coastal Alabama, they are gusting to near 25 mph.

Here are 10 am observations for Louisiana:

A flash flood watch is in effect for all of Central Alabama…for the following counties it began at 10 a.m. CDT for Autauga, Barbour, Bibb, Bullock, Chambers, Chilton, Coosa, Dallas, Elmore, Greene, Hale, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Marengo, Montgomery, Perry, Pike, Russell, Sumter and Tallapoosa counties. For Blount, Calhoun, Cherokee, Clay, Cleburne, Etowah, Fayette, Jefferson, Lamar, Marion, Pickens, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Tuscaloosa, Walker and Winston Counties. The flash flood watch will expire Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Category: Alabama's Weather, Tropical