I was glad to see the rain this week as it had been dry but overall we have been wetter. One thing I heard was no more days of rain but more rain on those days. Will that be proved here?
South Louisiana got a lot more rain than usual in 2021, thanks to a yearlong pattern of storms. The New Orleans area, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles will each record significantly more than their average rainfall total. As of Wednesday, Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner measured 86.08 inches of rain, compared to an average 63.35 inches. The record is 102.37 inches in 1991. Baton Rouge Ryan Airport had recorded 79.85 inches, compared to an average of 61.94 inches. Its record is 90.54 inches, set in 2016, the year of the historic August flooding. Lake Charles had seen 72.26 inches, compared to an average 59.75 inches. That record is 85.16 inches, set in 2002. Much of the heaviest rainfall in all three locations fell during the spring and summer. At the beginning of the year, all three locations had totals near or below average. “As we got near the end of March, the switch just flicked in the other direction and it just rained and rained and rained and rained,” state climatologist Barry Keim said.
nola.com
Why the increased rain? Storms or just wind changes sending more here?
The change in the pattern resulted from an unusual number of west-to-east frontal systems that dipped deep into south Louisiana, which does not usually happen, Keim said. “Once we get to the middle part of May, the fronts just quit coming to south Louisiana, which is why we stay in that really hot regime from about mid-May all the way ’til mid-September,” he said. In New Orleans, the rainfall reached the annual average on Aug. 13. During the last week of 2021, repeat thunderstorms did not add much to the total.
It started wet but then in May it stopped. I know that past few months my water barrels ran dry which is an obvious example of no rain!
