WBRZ - Baton Rouge

Short Term Forecast:  It is a very warm and humid start to this Friday Morning across the City of Baton Rouge.  We have partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the upper 70s to lower 80s.

More heat is expected today and we should see more sunshine than we did yesterday.  We will also see a slightly better chance of seeing a storm or two this afternoon as more moisture has returned to the upper atmosphere.  Therefore, it will be partly cloudy with a few pop-up showers and thunderstorms.  Some could be strong.  High temperatures will be in the mid 90s with the heat index around 105.

Some clouds will linger around town tonight and it will stay stuffy.  Lows will be in the upper 70s.

Weekend Outlook:  We will see an increase in the amount of showers and storms that pop-up this weekend.  This is due to the ridge of high pressure over Texas moving to the west and allowing for a weak trough of low pressure to move over the Southeast U.S.  This is going to set off isolated showers and storms on Saturday with partly cloudy skies.  Highs will be in the mid 90s and lows in the upper 70s with partly cloudy skies at night.

The best chance for rain will be on Sunday as the trough sits just north of Louisiana.  We will have partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms.  Some could be strong too.  High temperatures will be in the lower 90s and lows in the mid 70s with mostly cloudy skies.

Next Week Outlook:  The trough of low pressure will move to the east, but we will still have some unsettled weather all week.  We will return to a more typical Summer-time pattern with partly cloudy skies and daily scattered afternoon storms popping up.  It will stay hot with highs in the lower to mid 90s and lows in the mid 70s each day.

Tropical Outlook:  Tropical Storm Ernesto formed yesterday from TD #5.  It is located over the Windward Islands and it moving quickly to the west around 24 mph.  Winds are sustained at 45 mph and the pressure is 1004 mb.  Ernesto is forecast to continue on a westward track over the weekend through the Central Caribbean where it is expected to get a little stronger.  By the end of next week, the storm is forecast to be a minimal hurricane as it nears the Yucatan Peninsula.  At that point, we will have to wait to see if it tries to get into the Southern Gulf of Mexico or move over the Yucatan.  Stay tuned!!

There is also a tropical wave located about 300 miles to the south of the Cape Verde Islands.  There is a low chance for this to become a tropical cyclone during the next few days.  However, conditions are favorable for gradual development as it moves to the west around 10 to 15 mph.

Elsewhere...the rest of the tropics are quiet and tropical cyclone formation is not expected through the weekend.

Have a great weekend! -Dave