Friday 10:00 pm: Olga has merged with the incoming cold front and has become post-tropical. Heavy rain and flash flooding still a threat through early morning.
Friday 4:00 pm: Tropical Depression Seventeen becomes Tropical Storm Olga. Olga will merge with a cold front and become a post-tropical low before reaching the Gulf Coast. Main threat remains heavy rain and flash flooding. 1″-3″ of rainfall will be common with some local higher amounts.
Friday 11:00 am: The National Hurricane Center has issued its first advisory on Tropical Depression 17 in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico, as of Friday morning.
It has maximum sustained winds of 35 miles per hour (m.p.h.) and is moving to the north at 16 m.p.h.. It may intensify a little further before merging with an incoming cold front to our west. If it briefly becomes a tropical storm, it will be called Olga. It is expected to merge with the front tonight and become post-tropical. The cold front will pass through the Baton Rouge area on Saturday, pushing all of the tropical moisture out of our area.
Local impacts for the Baton Rouge area will not change — heavy rain and a flash flooding risk, gusty wind, and a possible brief tornado. For more, click here.