The local weather is great! we have high pressure in the region. It has moved a little since yesterday. So we’ll have more of a southwest wind today compared to yesterday’s light northwest wind. We’ll have lots of sun through the day with highs in the 70s.
We’ll have nice weather for the rest of the week. High temps will rise to the low-mid 80s tomorrow, but we’ll cool down to the mid 70s on Thursday and near 70 on Friday.
There will be a few showers moving in on Saturday, but it won’t be a washout. However, there could be quite a bit of rain by Sunday. That all depends on what happens with hurricane Delta.
One quick note to mention before I get into Delta…. Gamma is no longer a tropical system, and it is falling apart over the Yucatan Peninsula.
As Gamma has pretty much fallen apart, hurricane Delta is strengthening rapidly. Within 24 hours the hurricane’s winds increased by over 50mph. So now delta is a category 2 hurricane.
It is over very warm water. Plus, there is very little wind shear. So it is forecast to increase even more. The latest forecast has it as a category 4 as it moves towards Cancun, Cozumel, and the northern Yucatan peninsula.
That is a huge tourist destination. They have already had some minor problems from Gamma’s first pass through that region last weekend. Now they could have some major problems. After moving over land Delta will move into the Gulf of Mexico. The land interaction should weaken the system a little, but then there won’t be much to stop it until it gets closer to the Gulf Coast. As it approaches land on Friday the wind shear should increase. Plus the water temps are cooler near the shore. This could potentially weaken the system. However, the foreast this morning from the National Hurricane Center keeps Delta as a major hurricane before landfall. That is late Friday into Friday night. The models are in fair agreement in a coastal Louisiana landfall, but things are set in stone just yet.
After that point it moves northeast and weakens quickly. It could be down to a depression by Sunday morning.
It should become a weak area of low pressure after that. The moisture from the system will push into our area on Saturday. It will probably just create a few showers that day. By Sunday the deeper moisture will stream in from the south/southwest. So the models show quite a bit of rain in the region. At least in terms of coverage.
There’s still time for things to change. Keep in mind that there have some big changes to the forecast with some previous tropical systems over the last couple of months. So that could easily happen again with Delta.
Stay tuned for updates!
Meteorologist: Jeremy Wheeler
