Catastrophe Expected From Hurricane Laura. Also, Significant Severe Weather Threat for Long Island.
A catastrophic hit is expected in western Louisiana from rapidly intensifying Hurricane Laura! Maximum sustained winds are up to 110 mph, and it is now expected to strengthen to a Cat 4 with 130 mph winds! It's even possible that it strengthens to 140 mph today. It may weaken very slightly right before landfall due to wind shear. Peak storm surge of 10 to 15 feet is expected! Rainfall totals of 5 to 10 inches with isolated amounts up to 15 inches. See all images below.
This is why I kept showing projections from the HWRF model showing a Cat 4 landfall, even while the National Hurricane Center was only projecting it to be a Cat 1.
Long Island:
It will be a beautiful day today with mostly sunny skies and very low humidity with dew points in the 40's and high temperatures in the mid to upper 70's. It will be breezy though with the wind out of the northwest at 10 to 20 mph.
The cold front will back back north as a warm front tomorrow with some showers possible in the morning, and then it will become very warm and humid in the afternoon with the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms in the late afternoon an evening. Heavy downpours, frequent lightning, strong wind gusts, and hail are possible, and even an isolated tornado is possible.
Friday will be partly cloudy and warm with moderate humidity levels. Highs will be mostly in the low to mid 80's. There is only a slight chance of a stray afternoon or evening thunderstorm.
Saturday will be partly to mostly cloudy and very humid with an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms with heavy downpours later in the day into the night. It depends somewhat on the track of the remnants of Hurricane Laura.
Sunday to Tuesday should then be mostly sunny, cooler, and less humid with highs in the 70's.
Regarding text notifications, the new system isn't working as my texts are being viewed as spam, so I am exploring new options. For now, you can get e-mail notifications if you sign-up in this (MPW Posts) section.
