Most are aware of the continued severe flooding in the Missouri/Ohio/Mississippi river valleys since the melt upstream this spring, causing severe crop disasters for farmers.
We also know that the river systems drain into the Gulf of Mexico near New Orleans.
Well... for whatever reason a HUGE low pressure system in the northern gulf has 'developed' and although it has not developed into a hurricane yet has already flooded major portions of New Orleans, which has already been inundated by the melt drainage from the above mentioned river systems...
The gist is that the USA food crops that have not been yet destroyed, as well as the crops in the southeast (east Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama Georgia and Florida) will surely be seriously impacted as well, simply because the 'drain' has been stopped up by the new storm.
As you will see from the below text New Orleans has picked up ten inches of rain in the past few hours and is ALREADY in danger of losing some levees.
Oh, and all that food you have been storing? Good job. You are going to need it for the year or two.
Watchman
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Here's some major 'predictions' from the PTB for this weekend and later.
At a Glance:
A broad area of low pressure is likely to develop in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
It will eventually strengthen into Tropical Storm Barry, and become a hurricane before landfall this weekend.
Tropical storm, hurricane and storm-surge watches could be issued for a portion of the northern Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
The track of future Barry remain a bit uncertain.
A major threat of rainfall flooding is in play over the northern Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi Valley. Storm surge flooding is also likely, particularly to the east of future Barry's track.
---and here's some more info:
Current Radar, Watches and Warnings
The National Weather Service issued a rare flash flood emergency for much of the New Orleans metro area Wednesday morning. Parts of the city picked up over 10 inches of rain in just a few hours, triggering widespread street flooding.
(LATEST NEWS: New Orleans Flash Flooding)
Water was reportedly entering a building in Harahan, just upriver from New Orleans in Jefferson Parish, according to a report received by the National Weather Service.
If that wasn't enough, a tornado was sighted over the western New Orleans metro Wednesday morning.
Development Likely: Here's Where It's Headed and How Strong..
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) has assigned a 90% chance of tropical development, possibly as soon as late today or Thursday. Thunderstorms remain somewhat disorganized with the disturbance, but are slowly beginning to consolidate.
The U.S. Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunters are scheduled to fly into the disturbance early this afternoon. If they can find a closed area of low pressure with enough persistent showers and thunderstorms around it, the NHC would then initiate advisories on either Tropical Depression Two or Tropical Storm Barry, depending on the strength of its winds.
(The potential area of tropical development according to the latest National Hurricane Center outlook is shown by a polygon, color-coded by the chance of development over the next five days. An "X" indicates the location of a current disturbance.)
The NHC mentioned tropical storm, hurricane and storm-surge watches could be issued for a portion of the northern Gulf Coast on Wednesday.
This future tropical storm will be steered westward or west-northwestward through the northern Gulf of Mexico in the direction of Louisiana and East Texas. That movement would be induced by the clockwise flow around a high-pressure system centered in the southern Rockies and Plains.
Barry would then be drawn inland this weekend somewhere from East Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley through a gap between the Rockies and Plains high-pressure system and an extension of the Bermuda high over the Bahamas and the Florida Peninsula.
For now, it looks like landfall may occur Saturday from early morning into the afternoon or evening.
https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2019-07-05-tropical-disturbance-gulf-of-mexico-southeast-coast