Meteorologist Dave Nussbaum's Weather Blog

I know it is October and it should be Fall, but Mother Nature thinks we should still be in Summer in New Orleans!  We've had near record to record highs the last few days, and we could have another record today!   An area of high pressure remains over the SE U.S. and this is keeping us hot and humid.  Today will have a mix of sun and clouds with a slight chance for rain.  Highs will be around 90, and that would break the record high of 89 set back in 1993.  Tonight will be partly cloudy, mild and muggy with patchy fog again.  Watch out for low visibilities.  Lows will be in the upper 60s north of the lake and mid 70s south.   Thursday will be a transition day between the record heat and the return of Fall as a cold front heads our way.  It will be mostly cloudy, very warm and humid with spotty showers and storms.  Highs will be in the upper 80s.  The cold front will move through on Thursday Night/Friday Morning with isolated showers/storms.  It will turn a little cooler wi

Some of you have been calling to say that Matthew's forecast to do a loop in the Atlantic Ocean off the SE U.S. is the same as what Hurricane Betsy did back in 1965. Well...that is not true. Betsy formed on August 27, 1965 just off the Leeward Islands. It quickly became a tropical storm on the same day, and then became a hurricane on August 29.  It made a few loops in its track with one north of Puerto Rico and a second north of the Bahamas.  There is a strong area of high pressure that was preventing Betsy from moving to the north, and that is what caused it to loop.  After the second loop, it then moved SW across the Bahamas, then turned west to move over far South Florida and then into the Gulf.  It eventually turned to the NW and quickly tracked right to New Orleans where it made landfall as a major hurricane on September 9th. Hurricane Matthew formed in the Atlantic east of the Leeward Islands as a tropical storm on September 28. It quickly moved west into the Caribbean wh

Hurricane Matthew is moving NW through the Bahamas and heading toward the East Coast of Florida.  It is a Category 4 storm now, but it is forecast to get stronger this afternoon and tonight.  The forecast track shows Matthew starting to impact South Florida this afternoon with tropical storm force winds and heavy rain.  Conditions will go downhill tonight as Matthew moves right along the Florida Coast.  It is possible that it could move inland on Friday Morning, if not sooner, near Cape Canaveral, FL.  The storm could also wobble and make multiple landfalls on Friday.  This is going to cause significant damage and surge flooding to the Florida Coast.  It is worth noting, that there has never been a hurricane like this in Florida, so you can't really compare it to any past storm!  The state is fearing the worst, but hoping for the best.  The last time a storm was this strong was back in 2007 with Hurricane Dean as it made landfall in Central America with 145 mph winds. The

Hurricane Matthew is weaker this morning thanks to the terrain of Cuba and Haiti along with some moderate wind shear.  It is moving to the  NNW  now and will track through the Bahamas over the next 24-30 hours.  Matthew is forecast to strengthen over the very warm water and less wind shear over the Islands with 130 mph winds, or a Category 4 storm.  Then Matthew is forecast to continue moving NW toward the East Coast of Florida.  At this time it could get very close to the coast, possibly less than 50 miles offshore as a Cat. 4 Hurricane. This would be close enough to cause some major problems to the coastal areas and even inland due to the large wind field.  The forecast models ( GFS  and Euro) are showing that it could even make a possible landfall along the coast near Cape Canaveral, FL on Friday Afternoon.  The current forecast track from  NHC  keeps Matthew just offshore FL at this time, but they have been inching the track closer to the coast.  Therefore, we will have to