Dangerous Heat Builds and Expands; Critical Fire Weather for the Southwest; Severe Thunderstorms for Plains and Midwest

Dangerous to record breaking heat will build across the center of the nation and slowly build eastward this week. Wildfire conditions remain critical for the Southwest and portions of the Great Basin through Monday. For the northern Plains and upper Midwest, severe thunderstorms with the potential for large to very large hail and severe winds are the primary hazards. Read More >

*Tropical Storm Lee*
September 2-5, 2011
Tropical Storm Lee originated from a large area of disturbed weather across the Eastern and Central Gulf of America. The low increased in organization during the afternoon of September 1st, and was initiated Tropical Depression #13 by the evening when aircraft reconnaissance found a closed circulation just over 200 miles south of the Louisiana coast. Tropical Depression #13 continued to move slowly northward, being upgraded to Tropical Storm Lee during the morning on September 2nd. Lee continued to strengthen as it moved slowly northward, attaining its maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. At this time, National Hurricane Center post storm analysis shows Lee's structure becoming more subtropical, with the area of maximum sustained winds becoming further away from the center of circulation. Thus, it was labeled a subtropical storm by daybreak on September 3rd. Lee continued to drift northwestward, with the center nearly stalling along the Vermilion Parish coastline of South Central Louisiana during the evening of September 3rd. Lee finally began to move east and northeast overnight. Lee's pressure continued to drop, reaching 986 mb early on September 4th. The area of maximum sustained winds continued to become further removed from the center of circulation, weakening to 45 mph as the overall circulation grew. Lee made landfall as a 45 mph subtropical storm across Marsh Island into Vermilion and Atchafalaya Bays just before daybreak on September 4th. Lee turned northward after landfall, essentially paralleling the west levee of the Atchafalaya Basin for the remainder of the morning and afternoon hours. Lee briefly stalled once again across the northern Atchafalaya Basin near the Morganza Spillway late in the afternoon on September 4th. A cold front moved rapidly through the region during the evening of September 4th, absorbing and transitioning the circulation of Lee into an extratropical storm as the entire system moved east across Southeast Louisiana, Southern Mississippi, and Alabama. Listed below are post-storm reports and meteorological data gathered from this tropical storm. All data is considered preliminary, and is subject to change at any time. Additional information will continue to be added to this page in the future.

Radar and Satellite Animated Imagery
(NWS LCH YouTube)

Radar Imagery:	Lake Charles, LA	Fort Polk, LA	New Orleans, LA
GOES 13 Satellite Imagery:	4km Infrared	4km Visible	1km Visible

Post Tropical Cyclone Reports
Lake Charles, LA	New Orleans, LA	Mobile, AL	Jackson, MS	National Hurricane Center

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Dangerous Heat Builds and Expands; Critical Fire Weather for the Southwest; Severe Thunderstorms for Plains and Midwest

Tropical Storm Lee 2011