Special Marine Warnings Posted Along Coastal Areas for Waterspout Risk
10/03/24 2:16pm ET
Good afternoon everyone. As forecasted, we are begining to see tropical-like heavy showers and thunderstorms drifting northward from the Gulf of Mexico, into the Louisiana shoreline.
Look for heavy downpours, as well as gusty winds and rumbles of thunder across sections of the Bayou and the Mississippi Delta region; eventually drifting north into New Orleans and the Baton Rouge area.
Since these showers and thunderstorms are tropical in nature, isolated strong to severe storms are possible with short notice as they quickly intensify. While not everyone will see severe weather, some areas could see damaging winds, frequent lightning, hail, torrential rain, and the risk of a few waterspouts.
A good example of this is off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. Heavy thunderstorms just offshore of the Apalachicola area have had a history of strong winds, frequent lightning, heavy tropical rains, and a radar indicated risk for waterspouts. For this reason, the National Weather Service has issued special marine warnings for that area.