Tropical Storm Arthur never made it to hurricane status, but it was a heavy rainmaker. LSU Health Climatologist Barry Keim says Arthur’s impacts will be studied for some time and the storm proof that a ‘quiet’ hurricane season being projected doesn’t mean Louisiana is in the clear. "Arthur had many surprises. This is certainly not how most of these storms play themselves out, but it ended up being a very prolific rainfall producer. This is one we'll be studying for a while for sure," Keim illustrated.
While many Louisiana residents thought flood warnings were potentially overblown before the storm hit, much of the area had heavy winds and rain that tracked with most forecasts. That said, the rainfall totals from Tropical Storm Arthur were shocking even for some weather experts according to Keim.
"This is amazing damage for south Louisiana," Keim notes. "For a relatively weak tropical storm that made landfall along the central coast of Texas, 350-400 miles from New Orleans, it was pretty darn bizarre. It was a weird, asymmetrical storm that dumped a huge amount of rain," he went on to say.
"We have had storms like this, but this is certainly not common. Avoyelles Parish had some amazing rainfall totals to the tune of around 22 inches in 12 hours. So, some areas just got absolutely hammered by this thing," Keim emphasized. He hopes that storms like Arthur will push some residents to remain weather-aware during hurricane season, as it doesn't take a hurricane to pose a huge flood threat to plenty of areas in Louisiana.
Storms that don't develop into hurricanes can still do heavy damage
Storms that don't develop into hurricanes can still do heavy damage
