Likely aided by the ongoing drought conditions, a small fire spread to nearby buildings in Washington Parish, where a man was fatally injured before fire fighters put out the fire.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS LIX wrote it up.
Likely aided by the ongoing drought conditions, a small fire spread to nearby buildings in Washington Parish, where a man was fatally injured before fire fighters put out the fire.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS New Orleans, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 17, 5:19 PM CST, 41 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED
National Weather Service New Orleans LA
619 PM CDT Thu Aug 17 2023
...NEW AVIATION...
.SHORT TERM...
(This evening through Friday night)
Issued at 401 PM CDT Thu Aug 17 2023
Quite the warm day today but unlike the last 2.5 months the
humidity was at least on the lower end. This is probably the last
of that now for a while as moisture will continue to slowly return
and heat headlines start back up.
The oppressive and hot air was shunted to the south by our cold
front a few days ago. This front has remains stalled along the coast
and Summer turned around and just said "I'm vengeance" and it is
about to return with a force. There is even a high possibility that
we have not seen the highest temperatures yet for this Summer given
the pattern that appears to quickly be setting up. It is already a
little warm today but come tomorrow and especially through the
weekend we will see things torch out once again.
High pressure which has been nudged back to our northwest for the
last few days is going to slide back to the east and build. By
Saturday morning a 597dm ridge will be centered over the southern
Plains and into the Ozarks.Then by Sunday afternoon the ridge could
be around 600dm and centered over MO. The ridge is going to dominate
almost the entire CONUS from practically the Sierra Nevada and
Cascades to the Mid Atlantic. The lone exceptions will be the
immediate west coast of the US and the fare northeastern US. Add on
this little tidbit that Hurricane Hilary is currently forecast to
move into California early Monday, driven north by our massive ridge
and the rough and closed low currently off the West coast. The ridge
is going to suppress any chance of convection through the weekend
keeping the local area rain free but we will also see LL temps climb
as the ridge builds east. H925 temps are expected to close in on 30-
32C while h85 temps will be pushing 26C by Saturday. This mixed down
to the sfc is easily in the 39-41C range and that is just
ridiculous. This would suggest highs in the 100-104 maybe even
peaking out around 105. It is not hard to believe this as temps in
eastern and central TX and ranging from mid 100s to at least 112 at
Mineral Wells. This is the air that is going to build east into the
area. Good thing is that the LL moisture is still going to take time
to recover so the extremely oppressive conditions may be contained,
"for now". Heat Advisories will at the very least be needed through
the weekend but outside of a few isolated areas that could see
localized high humidity values, Excessive heat warnings may not be
needed quite yet.
So in short for your weekend, HOT HOTTEST HOTTER and no rain.
Continue to do what you have been all Summer, hydrate, find times to
cool off, and check on family, friends, and neighbors.
/CAB/
&&
.LONG TERM...
(Saturday through Wednesday night)
Issued at 401 PM CDT Thu Aug 17 2023
High pressure will dominate the upper level pattern, influencing
our area and keeping rain chances a bit lower than normal.
Southerly to easterly surface winds will help to advect warm and
moist air into the environment, increasing humidities for the
area. Consequently, it will still be quite hot as we move into the
beginning of the week and especially looking at mid week. The
forecast highs will be in the mid to upper 100s. Thanks to the
higher dewpoints and humidities, heat index values will be around
108-113 for our area looking at the models. This could be hotter
or cooler depending on how an easterly wave and high pressure
interact over the next few days (and whether we get enhanced
rainfall or not).
Speaking of the easterly wave, there is an easterly wave that the
models are depicting moving through the Gulf early next week. There
are still a lot of uncertainties in the models for how this could
interact with the high pressure system. The NHC has the Gulf
outlooked for a 30% chance of development in the next 7 days.
Currently, the model consensus has enhanced rainfall moving through
the Gulf and staying predominantly south of our area as it moves
more toward Texas. We may get some (much needed) rainfall on the
edge of the system as it progresses, but how much and likely the
precipitation is will depend highly on how everything develops
through the weekend. Currently, our LA and MS Coastal areas are the
most likely to see some rain from the potential easterly wave and
PoPs are a bit enhanced at 40-60% rain chances for Monday and
Tuesday, mainly along and south of the I-10/I-12 corridor. This may
fluctuate some (drier or wetter) depending on the strength of the
ridge, etc. But generally, this is the current model consensus.
MSW
&&
.AVIATION...
(00Z TAFS)
Issued at 614 PM CDT Thu Aug 17 2023
VFR conditions expected through the cycle. Winds will lighten
overnight across the region. Expect diurnal wind shifts along the
lake/sea breezes during the afternoon hours on Friday mostly at or
below 10kts. (Frye)
&&
.MARINE...
Issued at 401 PM CDT Thu Aug 17 2023
Main marine concerns for one more day will be the thunderstorm
threat over the open waters south of the dissipating frontal
boundary.
Second concern will be the eventual timing/location/strength of an
easterly wave moving across the Gulf of Mexico, mainly
Monday/Tuesday. Some potential for an increase in winds and waves
at that point over the open waters. /CAB/
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
MCB 68 100 72 102 / 0 0 0 0
BTR 74 102 79 104 / 0 10 0 10
ASD 73 100 79 100 / 0 0 0 10
MSY 79 100 80 100 / 0 10 0 10
GPT 76 97 79 97 / 0 0 0 0
PQL 75 99 77 99 / 0 10 0 0
&&
.LIX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
LA...Heat Advisory from 11 AM to 8 PM CDT Friday for LAZ034>037-039-
046>048-056>060-064>071-076>090.
GM...None.
MS...Heat Advisory from 11 AM to 8 PM CDT Friday for MSZ068>071.
GM...None.
&&
SHORT TERM...CAB
LONG TERM....MSW
AVIATION...RDF
MARINE...CABThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A 72-year-old veteran was fatally burned when an outside fire spread to their building.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Louisiana in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Louisiana, August 2023
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1137308.