Todd Yakoubian
No Stopping Laura
Laura will bring heavy rainfall, high winds, and isolated tornadoes starting Thursday. As I always say, "There are no guarantees in weather until after it happens." I hope the forecast changes, I hope the track changes, and I hope Laura doesn't make landfall, but there's a very high chance we'll have direct impacts on Arkansas.
This is what you need to know PLUS maps below
Laura moves in Thurs, especially during the afternoon from south to north.
The heaviest rain axis will be from southwest to northeast along the track
Lesser amounts far NW and SE, but that can change
Flash flooding likely
Wind gusts up to 60mph likely southern Arkansas, but decreasing NE
With a saturated ground (southwest), power outages can be expected
Elsewhere, a few power outages will be possible, but less northeast
The tornado threat is low, but it's possible in feeder bands east of the center
The tornadoes with tropical systems are usually brief and isolated
We can't rule out a strong tornado
If tornadoes do develop, there will be little to no lightning as we're typically used to.
Heavy rain continues Thursday night into Friday morning.
Rain lessens south, but continues north Friday afternoon
Most of the rain exits early Saturday morning
Laura now a major hurricane as of Wednesday morning and it will take a while to lose its wind energy over Arkansas, but it will.

You don't see this often

Euro rainfall guidance (MODELS ARE NOT FORECASTS)

GFS

NAM

FROM THE WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER BELOW. THIS IS A FORECAST




Can things still change? YES! However, confidence is quite high of significant impacts. If there are changes, probably won't be much. We'll keep you updated.