More Rain in Louisiana Monday – Big Chill Arrives Wednesday

Events across Southern Louisiana especially were affected by this past weekend's inclement weather. In Lafayette, the annual Christmas Parade was canceled while other events and organizations either opted to move their event to a different day or just make do in the rain.

There was a significant amount of rain that fell over localized areas during the afternoon and evening hours of Sunday. Those rainfall amounts prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Flood Warning for the Vermilion River at Lafayette. 

The warning from the Lake Charles Forecast Office suggested that the Vermilion would crest just after midnight Monday morning at 11.0 feet even on the Surrey Street gauge. Should that forecast be accurate that will mean minor flooding of Beaver Park in Lafayette as well as some areas near Vermilionville. 

Unfortunately, the forecast does include a healthy chance of even more showers and storms across the I-10 corridor today. In the Lafayette area, an additional quarter of an inch of rainfall won't be uncommon although some areas might receive higher amounts in heavier thunderstorms that are forecast to rumble across the area again today.

Forecasters with the NWS in Lake Charles say we'll have "roller coaster rain chances" today and tonight. The outlook for Monday calls for a 60% chance of more rain and storms. Although it does appear as though the heavier rain will fall east of the Atchafalaya Basin.

Early tonight, the rain threat will ease as probabilities drop to near 30% as we move through the evening hours. However, forecasters are calling for another round of overnight storms to move through southern Louisiana in the hours just before sunrise on Tuesday.

In addition to the roller coaster rain chances we'll be doing a little bit of the "up and down" with the temperatures too. After a wet weekend today's high temperature will make it into the middle 70s for much of the I-10 corridor. Tuesday will see similar highs forecast across the region as well, but Wednesday, that's a totally different story.

The afternoon temperature on Wednesday could be as much as 20 degrees colder than the afternoon high much of Louisiana will experience this afternoon. Wednesday's high temperature is expected to barely make it into the 50s while overnight lows will drop to near freezing in the south and below freezing in the northern part of the state.

The next threat of rain in Louisiana is expected to come late in the day on Friday but as of now, that does not look to be a significant rain event.