South Louisiana Football Games Face Heavy Rain Tonight

(KMDL-FM) In Lafayette, at Our Lady of Lourdes Stadium, the University of Louisiana will face Lamar in an NCAA football game tonight. About 50 miles to the east, LSU will host Clemson at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge. And if you go about 50 or so miles in the other direction, to the west, you'll find the McNeese State Cowboys hosting Texas Wesleyan. Mother Nature is expected to make an appearance at all of these stadiums today, but when?

Okay, Mother Nature will show up in the form of a significant rain threat, but based on what we have learned from the National Weather Service, the rain threat might not be that big of an issue for the actual games tonight. Instead, tailgaters in Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and Lake Charles will need to be prepared for showers and storms leading up to tonight's festivities.

There are a couple of factors at play in this afternoon's forecast; the first thing you'll notice is the humidity. The air is thick with moisture, which you need a lot of if you're going to create thunderstorms. Here is a link to the National Weather Service Radar sites that serve South Louisiana. You can check in real time to see where the storms are right now.

The second item that we have in our atmospheric gumbo is instability. That will be caused by an upper-level disturbance drifting across the area. Those two things will combine to kick off the storms before the kickoff of the games.

If you look at the forecast language used by the National Weather Service Forecast Offices in Baton Rouge and Lake Charles, you can see the greater threat for heavier rain closer to game time will most likely be in Lafayette and Lake Charles.

What Is the Hour-by-Hour Forecast for LSU Tailgating Today?

The NWS Forecast Office in Baton Rouge suggests the heaviest rain and thunderstorms in that city between 3 pm and 5 pm. The hourly forecast issued by the Weather Channel suggests rain and thunderstorms beginning earlier in the day but ending by the time kick off occurs. The hourly forecast for Baton Rouge from AccuWeather suggests showers and storms right around 3 pm.

What Is the Hour-by-Hour Forecast for Ragin Cajun Tailgating Today?

In Lafayette, the National Weather Service Forecast suggests the heaviest showers and storms will be rumbling across the area between 1 pm and 4 pm. There is still a threat of storms after 4 pm, but rain chances drop dramatically by the evening. The Weather Channel suggests in its hourly forecast for Lafayette that the National Weather Service forecast is right on the money. The Weather Channel suggests that between 1 pm and 4 pm will be when the worst of the weather rumbles over Acadiana.

The hourly forecast from AccuWeather for Lafayette seems to be in agreement with the other two forecast scenarios. AccuWeather seems to suggest that heat will be a bigger issue for those who are outside this afternoon than perhaps showers and storms. I am sure heat will play a part both on and off the field.

What Is the Hour-by-Hour Forecast for McNeese Cowboy Tailgating Today?

The outlook in Lake Charles is similar to that of Lafayette, but perhaps everything is delayed by an hour. I do think the showers and storms associated with this system will be moving from east to west, so that might explain the time difference. The hourly outlook from the National Weather Service suggests that between 3 pm and 6 pm is when Southwest Louisiana will experience the greatest risk of rainfall.

The Weather Channel's hourly update falls right in step with the NWS outlook, and AccuWeather suggests the same thing, with showers lingering a little later into the evening but probably not late enough to affect the game itself.

For the remainder of the Labor Day weekend, Sunday should see a slight risk of afternoon and early evening showers and thunderstorms, with a better threat of showers and storms forecast for Labor Day Monday.

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Gallery Credit: Bruce Mikells