South Louisiana Expecting Strong Storms With a Wintry Blast

This will be one of those days where moms and dads of hard-headed little boys will have to do an incredible sales job to get them to bring a coat to school. That's because temperatures across the I-10 corridor in Louisiana are quite mild for this, the 3rd day of February. But changes in the current weather conditions are coming and a kid without a coat this afternoon will be a miserable child indeed.

Here's what is happening. First, the radar scan out of the National Weather Service Office in Lake Charles clearly illustrates where the worst of the wet weather is currently located. Forecasters believe this area of precipitation will move into the area early this morning with the worst of the weather arriving mid to late morning or early afternoon.

Of course, when you start to see rain or storms will depend on where you live. Lake Charles will see showers and storms before Lafayette. Lafayette will get the worst of the weather before Baton Rouge. That's because the weather system that is producing the inclement weather is moving in a general east to west motion.

The Storm Prediction Center has placed a large portion of South Louisiana under a marginal risk for severe storms through this morning and the early afternoon hours. Those storms are expected to form in front of a strong cold front as it pushes through the area this morning.

According to KATC TV 3 Chief Meteorologist Rob Perillo, South Louisiana will likely be under the gun for stronger storms after 8 this morning through the early afternoon hours.

However, the frontal passage is just the beginning of South Louisiana's weather changes. Behind the front, the National Weather Service Office in Lake Charles say temperatures will plummet. In fact, the high this morning for many cities in South Louisiana will be this morning as temperatures are expected to drop into the 40s by later this afternoon.

You can see on Rob's graphic the pink and purple colors, those are projections for snow, ice, and wintry precipitation. Most of that will not be moving through South Louisiana although portions of North Louisiana are under a winter weather advisory.

Also, many flights from Lake Charles, Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans into the Dallas Fort Worth area have been cancelled or delayed because of winter weather conditions in the Metroplex. You'll need to call your air carrier to rebook or reroute your flights.

Temperatures are expected to remain quite cold for the region through the weekend. Friday's high temperature will only reach the middle 40s. Overnight low temperatures should settle in near the freezing mark for Saturday morning and temperatures should begin to moderate through the weekend under mostly sunny skies.

While the chilly weather might impact some outdoor plans for most of us we know it simply means one thing, gumbo weather. What? You don't know about gumbo weather?

I would imagine more than a few folks will be planning for a big steaming cauldron of that delicious elixir to get us through the chilly days and frosty nights.