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Comparison between Hurricane Matthew's possible forecast track loop vs Hurricane Betsy's

Some of you have been calling to say that Matthew's forecast to do a loop in the Atlantic Ocean off the SE U.S. is the same as what Hurricane Betsy did back in 1965. Well...that is not true. Betsy formed on August 27, 1965 just off the Leeward Islands. It quickly became a tropical storm on the same day, and then became a hurricane on August 29.  It made a few loops in its track with one north of Puerto Rico and a second north of the Bahamas.  There is a strong area of high pressure that was preventing Betsy from moving to the north, and that is what caused it to loop.  After the second loop, it then moved SW across the Bahamas, then turned west to move over far South Florida and then into the Gulf.  It eventually turned to the NW and quickly tracked right to New Orleans where it made landfall as a major hurricane on September 9th. Hurricane Matthew formed in the Atlantic east of the Leeward Islands as a tropical storm on September 28. It quickly moved west into t...
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Flash Flood Watch now until Thursday Evening for WBRZ Viewing Area

The NWS in Slidell, LA has issued a  Flash Flood Watch for all of the WBRZ Viewing Area starting now and continuing until Thursday Evening. Rain has been falling for the last few hours and we have already picked up over 1.30" in Baton Rouge.  This is WAY more than the forecast models were predicting for this time.  The area of low pressure continues to develop over South Texas and a warm front will move up from the Gulf of Mexico by Wednesday Morning.  This will spread widespread rain and a few thunderstorms over Southern Louisiana all night and into Wednesday.  Then it looks like we will taper off the rain to just scattered showers during the day on Wednesday. On Wednesday Night, a cold front will move out of Texas into Louisiana.  As this happens, a squall line of thunderstorms is expected to move ahead of it and through Baton Rouge on Thursday Morning.  Some of these storms could be strong to severe with damaging winds and a few tornadoes. ...
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The Great Flood of 1983

It was 30 years ago that the Baton Rouge area experienced what is likely the worst flood in its history!  On April 5-9, 1983 we were hit with 6 to 13 inches of rain from a slow-moving storm.  This rain quickly ran off into the Amite, Comite, Tickfaw and Tangipahoa River Basins.  Some of the highest rainfall totals were in the headwaters of the Amite River in the Felicianas and South Mississippi.  Also, there were some strong easterly winds which slowed down the water from draining into Lake Maurepas and Pontchartrain.  These were some of the reasons why the flooding occurred in Baton Rouge & Denham Springs.  The weather map to the right shows the weather for April 8, 1983. A stalled front over the Southeast U.S. lead to the heavy rain event and flooding. The rivers quickly rose and spilled out of their banks.  The rain didn't stop, so the water continued to rise and rise.  Rivers rose to what are still the record levels.  The Amite in D...
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