⚠️ Due to the tropical storm warning issued our Department is now watching the weather in the state of Louisiana ⚠️
A tropical storm warning has been issued for southeastern Louisiana and the Gulf Coast ahead of a system making its way to the region this weekend, forecasters said Thursday afternoon.
The National Hurricane Center and state officials said now is the time to prepare a storm plan and pay attention to the disturbance, likely to form into a depression in the coming hours in the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana is expected to be doused with heavy rainfall, and both metro Baton Rouge and New Orleans are under a flash flood watch.
"Right now everyone in Louisiana along the coast needs to be paying attention," Gov. John Bel Edwards said. "Because we have rivers that are already high and drainage ditches that are already full, smaller rain than we may have experienced last month could be just as catastrophic."
If the Gulf disturbance strengthens into a tropical storm, which could happen in the next 36 hours, it will be named Claudette.
Here’s what we know from the National Hurricane Center about the Gulf storm as of 4 p.m. Thursday.
Forecasters said in the NHC's 4 p.m. update that the disturbance was moving north at 9 mph in the southwestern Gulf and is expected to pick up speed over the next 24 hours.
It was about 475 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana, and had sustained winds of 30 mph.
The system has a 90% chance of developing into a tropical depression, or even a tropical storm, by Thursday night or Friday. The 4 p.m. update was the first NHC release that suggested the disturbance might form into a tropical storm.
Much of southeast Louisiana is expected to get 4 to 8 inches of rain, with isolated amounts of 12 inches, including metro New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette. Heavy rains are in the forecast from Friday through Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
The heaviest rain is forecast to dump on metro New Orleans and coastal parishes such as Terrebonne, Plaquemines and Lafourche.
Here are the rainfall estimates as of Thursday morning from the National Weather Service:
Increased tides, strong winds and tornadoes are also possible. Forecasters warned of storm surge in coastal areas could reach up to 3 feet.
The NHC urged residents to keep an eye on windy conditions and the possibility of tornadoes beginning Friday, when tropical storm conditions reach Louisiana. The threat of tornadoes will also stretch into Mississippi and southwest Alabama through Saturday.
The disturbance in the Gulf is the only system being monitored by NHC as of 4 p.m. Thursday.
After Claudette, the next names available are Danny and Elsa for future storms. Subtropical Storm Ana formed May 22 in the Atlantic, and eventually became a tropical storm. Tropical Storm Bill formed Tuesday in the Atlantic.
The shaded area on the graphic is where a storm could develop and is not a track. The National Hurricane Center releases a track when a tropical depression forms or is about to form.
The categories, in order of increasing strength, are tropical depression, tropical storm and hurricane (categories 1 through 5). Systems are named when they develop into a tropical storm.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.
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