After more than a week of sunny weather, precipitation is back with a weekend forecast of heavy rains and thunderstorms, especially along coastal areas.
Tim Humphrey, forecaster with the National Weather Service Lake Charles office, said moisture is coming up from the Gulf, but is not a tropical system.
“We are going to have a large scale weather pattern set up that will usher a lot of moisture into the area,” Humphrey said.
The system is the result of high pressure to the east and low pressure to the west that, combined, will create a very large area of southerly winds extending all the way to the southern portion of Gulf of Mexico, Humphrey said.
Rain chances, which started Tuesday, are forecast to continue Thursday with a 30 percent chance of precipitation. By Friday, the chance of rain will intensify to 50 percent.
By Saturday, chance of daytime rainfall increases to 70 percent before decreasing to 50 percent during the night.
Sunday will see a 60 percent chance of rain during the day, followed by a 40 percent at night.
Chance of rain is predicted to decrease Monday to 20 percent, and rise Tuesday to 40 percent.
“I would try to make my weekend plans indoors,” Humphrey said. “It looks like Saturday and Sunday are going to be the days with the highest percentage of rainfall.”
The heaviest rain will be along coastal areas, which are closer to the incoming southerly Gulf winds.
The system will also include some embedded thunderstorms.
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