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| In this rainfall prediction map, areas in yellow could see 10 to 20 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Barry |
Downpours.
After nearly two weeks of mostly dry, hot weather parched my St. Albans, Vermont gardens almost into dust, heavy downpours rumbled through northern Vermont last night. It wasn't extreme by any means, but at least things out there are a little wetter.
What is extreme is the rainfall from Tropical Storm Barry, which we've been talking about for a couple days now.
Barry remains a disorganized mess in the Gulf of Mexico. It doesn't even really look like a tropical storm when you look at satellite pictures of it.
Looks are deceiving. Tropical Storm Barry is still destined to unleash a horrible flood. Probably in Louisiana. Right now, it looks like the worst of the rain and flooding would hit the eastern half of Louisiana into Mississippi, though of course the exact placement of those downpours could change as Barry evolves.
Forecasters say up to two feet of rain could fall from the slow-moving storm and many places are at risk of 10 inches or more. Storm surges from the Gulf of Mexico could also add to the flooding. This still looks like it's going to be quite the disaster, unfortunately.
"There are three ways that Louisiana can flood; storm surge, high rivers and rain. We're going to have all three," Louisiana Gov. Bel Edwards said.
Winds from Tropical Storm Barry aren't all that fierce, but are persistent, and will continue to shove Gulf of Mexico water into the coastline through the weekend, even as the heavy rains fall.
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| Tropical Storm Barry was a disorganized mess in this satellite photo from yesterday, but don't let that fool you. There's still a high risk of epic flooding from this. |
Still, there's only so much water that can be pumped out.
As the downpours in New Orleans demonstrated two days ago, super heavy rains can still easily flood the city. "We cannot pump our way out of the water levels and the waterfalls that are expected to hit," said New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell.
New Orleans itself is not under an evacuation order, but some people are getting out of town anyway. Other low-lying areas of Louisiana are being evacuated.
This whole Barry thing is a weird setup anyway, given the already high river levels ahead of the storm, the long lasting storm surge and downpours, and the generally sodden atmosphere, possibly made worse by climate change.
According to Time:
"Peter Gleick, a Pacific Institute climate scientist, warns that Tropical Storm Barry is 'exactly a climate change story.'
'No climate scientist is saying these storms are caused by climate change. That's a difficult thing to show......What we're saying is that climate change is increasingly influencing these very damaging events. And it's that influence that's going to grow over time as we continue to fail to get climate change under control.'"
If the forecasts are correct with Barry, this will make it the fourth summer in a row in which some part of the nation got an epic, unprecedente flood from a tropical storm or a tropical system. Louisiana got nailed in 2016, Hurricane Harvey drowned Houston and other East Texas cities in 2017; Hurricane Florence wrecked the Carolinas in 2018, and now this.
And I'm not even talking about all the other floods that have been going on.
Up here in Vermont, we had our own epic flood disaster with Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. I worry these events are becoming more frequent, and we might be due again for another Irene. Not with Barry, but it feels like only a matter of time.
Last evening's downpours had me rejoicing because it was alleviating a dry spell. Of course, a few places got too much, as there were and are pockets of damaging flash floods in northern New York, central New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts.
Here in Vermont, I figure it's inevitable thatone of these nights, the downpours won't stop, and then..........
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