BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – A significant severe weather outbreak is still expected across parts of the Deep South today, with the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) maintaining a Level 4/5 (moderate) risk of severe weather from eastern and southern Louisiana extending northward into Tennessee and eastward into Alabama.
The regional scale outlook from SPC includes the following strong wording:
“Widespread damaging winds with gusts over 75 mph and several strong tornadoes (EF2+) appear likely.”
Locally, most of us will make it through the morning hours mainly dry, but winds will be an issue throughout the day.
A High Wind Warning is posted area-wide, with the National Weather Service saying sustained winds could reach 35-45 mph at times, and gusts could reach or exceed 55 mph.
Make sure you secure loose any objects on your lawn and be alert for strong crosswinds if driving, particularly on bridges and overpasses.
Into the afternoon, storms will increase from west to east in advance of a cold front.
The timing shows activity beginning to pick up for areas west and northwest of metro Baton Rouge by 2 PM, with the primary threat for metro Baton Rouge and much of our area expected in the 3-6 PM window. Storms should exit eastern parts of our viewing area by about 8 PM.
Damaging winds continue to be our greatest concern, but a few tornadoes could be in the mix, including that potential for a strong tornado or two as noted by SPC. Make sure you have multiple ways to receive warnings this afternoon, enable Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) on your phones, and keep your devices charged in case of any power outages.
Rains should exit the area before midnight, with clearing skies and cooler temperatures settling in overnight. We’ll wake up to low 50s on Thursday, with highs topping out in the mid 70s under sunny skies. Tomorrow’s weather will be a welcomed change from the severe weather threat we’re facing today.
Dry and pleasant weather continues into Friday, with partly cloudy skies and highs in the upper 70s. It does appear as though we’ll see a chance of rain return from Saturday morning perhaps lingering into the early afternoon hours, but there are some questions as to how far inland rains will develop. The good news is that Saturday’s weather does not appear to have any severe weather threat associated with it.
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