Beta is now a tropical depression as it slowly meanders through SE Texas. Look for the rain to increase Tuesday night and Wednesday as the depression begins to accelerate into Louisiana. Warmer and drier conditions will return to the ArkLaTex by Friday and the weekend.
Tuesday was a cloudy and mild day around the ArkLaTex. Rain from now Tropical Depression Beta was rather scattered for most of the day. Beta will begin to move towards the northeast in the next few days. As it moves out of Texas and into Louisiana Wednesday expect the rain to begin to increase in coverage and intensity Tuesday night through Wednesday night. The rain will gradually end Thursday as what is left of the system moves into NE Louisiana. We still have the potential for some rather heavy rain especially over the southeast and eastern edges of the area. Rainfall amounts of two to four inches with isolated five to six-inch totals will be possible. The rain will likely be even heavier to our east in NE Louisiana. The Weather Prediction Center indicates that there is a slight risk of excessive rainfall that could lead to flash flooding. That means that we could have some scattered flooding reports mainly Wednesday and Wednesday night. We currently do not have a Flash Flood Watch in effect. However, be aware that some scattered flooding will be possible in low lying areas.
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Thanks to the clouds and rain from Beta, daytime temperatures will stay rather mild through Thursday. Look for highs Wednesday to struggle to make it into the lower 70s. We will warm into the mid 70s Thursday and should return to more normal levels by the weekend with highs in the middle 80s. Overnight lows for the next several nights will remain in the middle 60s. Look for the warming trend to continue into next week. By Monday we could see highs in the mid to upper 80s. Lows will warm into the mid to upper 60s. Once Beta clears Louisiana, we likely won’t see much as far as raint through the weekend and through most of next week.
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The long-range weather picture is also looking rather dry at this time. We also could see a decent surge of colder air move into the eastern half of the country to close next week. It’s quite possible that we could see highs dip to the 70s and lows tip to the 50s during the first week of October. I will have the latest on what to expect for the next two weeks and on Tropical Depressino Beta in my nightly live weather update Tuesday evening at 8:30 pm.
–Todd Warren
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