A slow-moving tropical depression has been slogging toward the Gulf coast today, packing walloping rains that could drench the region with up to 20 inches. Tropical storm warnings were issued from Mississippi to Texas including New Orleans. The National Hurricane Center said the system will dump 10 to 15 inches of rain over southern areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama through Sunday and as much as 20 inches in some spots. The depression could become Tropical Storm Lee, the 12th named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasts were for landfall over the weekend on southern Louisiana’s coast. The depression had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph Friday morning. It was drifting slowly north near 1 mph with the hurricane center predicting slow, possibly erratic motion. “Wow. This could be a very heavy, prolific rainmaker,” says National Weather Service meteorologist Frank Revitte. According to a hurricane center chart, maximum sustained winds could reach 60 mph by Saturday, lower than hurricane strength of 74 mph.
Hurricane season is hitting its peak in the Atlantic, and storm watchers have been monitoring a few disturbances. One of them is Tropical Storm Katia, which continues to spin in open waters. It weakened from a hurricane Thursday, though forecasters say it will again grow stronger. It was about 750 miles east of the northern Leeward Islands and moving west-northwest near 15 mph with maximum sustained winds early Friday near 70 mph. It could regain hurricane strength this weekend, but forecasters say it’s too early to tell if it will hit the U.S. It is expected to pass north of the Caribbean. For more information, click here here for the NWS New Orleans-Baton Rouge office website and here for the National Hurricane Center website.
