Heat Advisories Posted For Much of Louisiana Monday

Last week Louisiana "celebrated" the summer solstice with the rest of the world. However, in cities like Alexandria, Shreveport, Monroe, and Lafayette, we don't really need the calendar to tell us when summer starts. It's quite evident that summer has arrived in Louisiana when a change of clothes is required because you made the sweaty walk to the mailbox and back.

Most of us in Louisiana have a jovial attitude toward the heat. It's something we are used to and something we have learned to work around. However, this week the heat will be unrelenting, and even for battle-tested veterans of forty or fifty Louisiana summers this week could be quite insufferable.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Lake Charles has created some great graphics that really show the extent of the heat for this week. Oddly enough there are only nine parishes in Louisiana that are not covered by a Heat Advisory today, those parishes are Vernon, Rapides, Evangeline, Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Jeff Davis, and Acadia.

A Heat Advisory means it's going to be hot, that's obvious. But the National Weather Service defines an advisory this way:

The general rule of thumb for this Advisory is when the maximum heat index temperature is expected to be 100° or higher for at least 2 days, and night time air temperatures will not drop below 75°; however, these criteria vary across the country

I believe in Louisiana our criteria might require an overnight low that doesn't drop below 80 degrees. The bottom line is being outside between noon and 7 pm today and tomorrow is not advised. The Official Advisory from the National Weather Service suggests that the heat index, the feels-like temperature, will be anywhere from 105 to 109 during the advised hours today.

Threat of Storms Could Break Louisiana Heat by Midweek

As of now, forecasters believe much of Louisiana will be very hot and very dry today and Tuesday. There is a threat of showers and storms in the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. That rain threat is listed at 60% and so far the Storm Prediction Center has not included Louisiana under any threat for severe storms in the foreseeable future. That is subject to change, of course.

But even with that elevated threat of showers and storms most of the state will still experience temperatures in the lower 90s with heat indices approaching triple digits in the afternoon.

What About The Tropics?

As of early this morning, a potential tropical threat in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico appears to have fizzled out. The system is very disorganized and is bringing showers and heavy rains to northeastern Mexico. However, the system is not expected to strengthen or pose any threat to Louisiana. The Gulf looks to remain mostly quiet this week.