Louisiana appears to be likely to see an increase in projections for the number of expected severe rain events we’ll see going forward.
The increase is likely to be a part of an update to NOAA’s Atlas 14 rainfall frequency forecast. State Climatologist Barry Keim said over the last ten years it appears that we are getting more frequent, powerful rainstorms that drop water faster than they did previously.
“We’re not so much talking about annual rainfall but what this is really drilling down on is those extreme storms and the analysis is done on the biggest storms that occur,” said Keim who notes the August 2016 Flood alone will account for a big part of the forecasted increase. “No doubt that one storm event across about a quarter of Louisiana with horrific rainfall totals would absolutely have an impact on what those precipitation frequency totals would look like.”