This morning, Tropical Storm Gordon continues to churn in the central Gulf of Mexico. Gordon should make landfall late tonight or very early Wednesday morning along the AL/ MS Gulf Coast as a strong Tropical Storm or minimal Hurricane.
Mostly dry, hot, and humid weather will continue to gain headlines, locally, through midweek. Thereafter, a combination of ingredients spell for unsettled times late week and a rather wet weekend.
- Remnant moisture of Gordon will “curl” around the periphery of an upper level ridge to our east
- A “wavy” frontal boundary will drop south into the Ohio Valley this weekend, entraining the remnant tropical moisture
Eventually, Gordon’s remnants will track into the Northeast Sunday night into Monday and will allow the stationary front to sweep through the Ohio Valley. This will provide a drier air mass as we open the new work week.
Beforehand, precipitable water values will exceed 2″ at times this weekend, in association with Gordon’s remnants, and this will promote periods of heavy rain. As things stand now, most widespread heavy rain is expected to arrive Saturday, but it’s a safe bet to plan for wet weather Friday through Sunday.
Widespread 1″ to 2″ rainfall totals are expected this weekend across central Indiana, including locally heavier amounts.
The tropical disturbance entering the GOM (Gulf of Mexico) early week will begin to find a more favorable upper level environment for further strengthening. While we always have to be cautious with any sort of tropical entity in the Gulf of Mexico this time of year, the greatest immediate concern is for locally heavy rain along the northern Gulf Coast early and middle parts of the week.
While the axis of heaviest rainfall will have to be fine tuned, confidence is high on unsettled times returning around these parts beginning Wednesday- thanks to the combination of an approaching cold front and remnant tropical moisture.