A tropical system creeping towards the state is expected to develop into Hurricane Barry Saturday morning and make landfall on the southwestern Louisiana coast on Saturday.
State Climatologist Barry Keim says gulf surface temps are in the mid to upper 80s, and wind shear is expected to decrease, giving the system plenty of fuel to develop.
“The storm is likely to become a tropical depression by tomorrow morning, a tropical storm by tomorrow night, and the National Weather Service is expecting the storm to become a hurricane by Saturday morning.”
Keim says with it’s current tracking, the most severe area of the hurricane will slam right through the south-central portion of the state.
“If it does make landfall in southwest Louisiana, then that right-front quadrant will be more up the Atchafalaya valley, and towards Baton Rouge and south-central Louisiana.”
South-central Louisiana is bracing for 10 to 15 inches of rain.
Keim says even if the storm does make landfall in the southwestern portion of The Boot, the system’s current track will have it slowly creep past the southeastern coast, bringing storm surge.
“We’re anticipating a three to five-foot storm surge for southeast Louisiana over the next couple of days, and that ranges from the Pearl River over to Morgan City. As the storm gets closer, we will be looking at surges in different locations, perhaps even higher.”
