Issac may not become a huge hurricane, but it could be a huge help in deleting the Indy rainfall deficit by this weekend. The storm’s remnants have the potential to produce up to six inches of precipitation.
“Isaac” is still a Tropical Storm heading into Tuesday afternoon, with 70 mph winds. Keep in mind the designation depends on wind. The pressure of the storm is pretty low by “tropical storm” standards. Just before lunchtime Isaac was creeping along to the northwest at 10mph, still about 165 miles southeast of New Orleans. That would indicate an early morning Wednesday landfall as a Category One hurricane.
Storm surge could still range from 6-12 feet. Rainfall totals of 7-14 inches will be widespread. I’ve attached a national precipitation outlook that models the forecast for the next five days. It indicates the possibility of 3-6 inches of rain over Central Indiana from the remnants of Isaac over Labor Day Weekend.
Going into today the Indianapolis rainfall deficit is 6.44 inches for the year. Things were much drier before this month. In fact, with the 1.42 inches of rain Monday… this is now the 8th wettest August of record in Indianapolis!
The Indy weather station has received almost as much rain in August as it did during the months of April+May+June+July combined. So far this month: 6.46 inches. With more to come this weekend.
GLASS HALF-FULL:
Tomorrow is the the 7th anniversary of Katrina’s landfall, and so Isaac has prompted comparisons. It won’t be close. Katrina at one point reached Category 5 status with winds of more than 157 mph and it made landfall as a Category 3 storm.
INDY ALMANAC:
The average high today is 83 and the average low is 63. Records are 96 and 43. The sunrise time is 7:10 and the sunset comes at 8:22.
PAUL’S PREVIOUS PREDICTION:
The actual high yesterday was 86. The forecast was 82.
UV INDEX:
8 (Very high.)
POLLEN COUNT:
“High” for the rest of the work week.
DETAILED INDIANAPOLIS FORECAST:
Today: Mostly sunny. High 84.
Tonight: Mostly clear. Low 59.
Wednesday: Sunny. High 85.
Wednesday Night: Clear. Low 57.
Thursday: Mostly sunny. High 87.
Thursday Night: Mostly clear. Low 66.
Friday: Slight shower and storm chances. High 86.
Friday Night: Good chance of showers and storms. Low 71.
Saturday: Good chance of showers and storms. High 82.
Saturday Night: Chance of showers and storms. Low 70.
Sunday: Chance of showers and storms. High 82.
Sunday Night: Slight chance of showers and storms. Low 68.
Labor Day Monday: Partly cloudy. High 85.
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