For over a week, an area of low pressure has been located in the northeast Gulf of Mexico. It was being monitored for possible development into a tropical system, but it never quite got its act together in terms of wind speed. The low has slowly tracked westward over the past few days. With its proximity to the coast and its very slow movement, intense rainfall has pummeled the Gulf coast. This part of the country is essentially experiencing the rainfall of a hurricane or tropical storm, but not the strong winds.
Louisiana has experienced the brunt of rainfall the past few days. Doppler rainfall estimates, spanning a 48-hour period ending early Friday afternoon, have totaled over 20 inches of rainfall through parts of the state.
With the slow movement of the system continuing over the weekend, additional rainfall totals of 10 inches or more may occur by Sunday night. Heavy rainfall will also affect eastern Texas, but rain totals will not be as high.
Moisture from this system will be drawn farther northward, which will help fuel frequent storms along a stalled frontal boundary across parts of the Mississippi and Tennessee River valleys.
