Good morning Tangi,
Here is an update concerning the arctic cold threat this week.
Changes from previous update:
- A Cold Weather Advisory has been issued for Monday night/Tuesday morning.
- Additional Cold Weather Advisories and Freeze products are likely on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.
- The next system on Thursday night through Friday could produce locally heavy rainfall, but exact totals and exactly where the heaviest rainfall is uncertain at this time.
Overview:
WHAT: Widespread freeze and hard freeze conditions
WHEN: Each night Monday night through Wednesday night
WHERE: All of southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi with the greatest threat across areas along/north of the I-10/12 corridor, especially north and east of Baton Rouge.
CONFIDENCE:
- We have high confidence in the occurrence of widespread freezing conditions across most of the area, with hard freeze conditions (25 degrees or lower) for many areas along/north of the interstate 10/12 corridor.
- We cannot yet rule out a brief period on Thursday morning where light rain could freeze in southwest Mississippi. Further updates will be given as confidence and clarity of this very low chance of frozen precipitation gets closer. Confidence is low if this precipitation would be capable of accumulating on elevated surfaces in these areas.
- We have medium confidence that locally heavy rainfall will occur somewhere across southeast Louisiana or southern MS on Thursday night through Friday morning. Exact totals and locations of heaviest totals are uncertain at this time.
Impacts:
- Temperatures will range from the low to mid 20s across southwestern Mississippi to the low to mid 30s across coastal southeastern Louisiana. Temperatures are forecast to be below freezing for up to 15 hours for northern areas and 1-6 hours for southern areas each night.
- Wind chills of 15 to 25 degrees are forecast Monday night into Tuesday morning, Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, and Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
- For areas where temperatures drop into the low to mid 20s for an extended period (generally, more than 6 hours), conditions could result in damage to unprotected pipes. Elsewhere, impacts will mainly be to sensitive vegetation.
- In all areas, those without reliable access to warm shelter may suffer from hypothermia.
