Storm Finally Moves Inland Over South Central Louisiana

Good morning everyone.  Sorry that I didn’t post many articles to the blog yesterday.  I spent most of the day trying to get my time lapse video of Hurricane Irene approaching New Jersey.  The lack of free space on my hard drives caused a lot of problems, but I was able to remedy it, and post the video last night.

I’ve also been quite tired the past couple days.  I’m on vacation, and all the stress and anxiety for this past week has finally caught up with me.  Anyway, I still have been tracking both Tropical Storm Lee and Hurricane Katia over the past several days.  Katia has been battling shear and going back and forth between minimal hurricane strength and strong tropical storm intensity.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Lee has continued to slug along at a very slow pace.  Moving three miles per hour, the storm finally crossed over land on Sunday morning.  The storm’s power has been waning since yesterday thanks to some shear and dry air that originated from Texas, which is dealing with a tremendous drought.  However, Lee has been dumping tremendous rainfall, and is expected to continue doing that.

As of the 8:00 AM EDT Advisory from the National Hurricane Center on Sunday morning, Tropical Storm Lee was located inland over South Central Louisiana some 50 miles West of Morgan City, Louisiana, and some 35 miles to the Southwest of Lafayette, Louisiana.  Maximum sustained winds are at 45 miles per hour with gusts peaking at 55 miles per hour.  

Minimum central pressure in Tropical Storm Lee is at Category One Hurricane strength at 29.12 inches of Hg, or 986 millibars.  Tropical storm force winds extend some 275 miles from the center, but are mostly confined to the eastern side of the storm.  The big problem with this storm is the rain.  Rainfall amounts are expected to be between 10 to 15 inches with some areas getting as much as 20 inches.

Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect from west of Destin, Florida to Sabine Pass in Texas including New Orleans, Lake Pontchartrain, and Lake Maurepas.  The storm is expected to continue moving to the Northeast at 3 miles per hour for at least the next 24 hours.  After that, Lee is forecast to move into the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys over the next couple days.  A trough over the North Central United States is expected to come down and help what’s left of the storm to break free of its weak steering currents.

The storm is now inland so it should begin to gradually weaken.  However, residents of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States should keep a close eye on this storm system since it is forecast to affect the area from late Monday night into Thursday.  Rainfall amounts could range anywhere from 2 to 6 inches.