Meteorologist: ‘August has been brutal’

Don’t let today’s cool snap fool you. Tripledigit temperatures are likely to return Thursday, with excessive heat warnings back in place by the weekend.

And there’s no chance of rain through the end of the month.

“August has been brutal,” meteorologist Michael Berry, with the National Weather Service in Shreveport, said.

Since late July, temperatures in the region have hit 100 degrees or more for 14 days. Eleven of those days have been in August, a number Berry said was “well above normal” for a typical August.

That doesn’t count the days when the heat indices, or “feels like” temperature, topped 100 even if the mercury didn’t.

The national Climate Prediction Center forecasts up to an 80% chance of above average temperatures for the rest of the month, and up to a 50% chance of less than average rainfall.

The extreme heat and lengthening drought statewide prompted Gov. John Bel Edwards to issue a state of emergency in Louisiana.

The declaration, issued Friday, is an administrative step that authorizes the use of state resources to aid in emergency response efforts and prices on items like bottled water to prevent price gouging.

The state of emergency remains in place through Sept. 9 unless the governor rescinds it earlier.

Edwards’ declaration came about a week after Louisiana Fire Marshal Dan Wallis and Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain issued a statewide burn ban that remains in effect.

Locally, Lincoln Parish firefighters are battling multiple weather-related grass fires almost daily.

“We’ve seen a dramatic increase in last week or so,” parish fire Chief Kevin Reynolds said. “It’s been a constant, everyday thing.”

Officials suspect some of the roadside grass fires are caused by motorists tossing cigarettes out the window, or small sparks.

Reynolds said firefighters have also seen burn piles reignite that were in use prior to the burn ban.

“It doesn’t take much,” he said. “If we get a little bit of wind, as dry as it is, a half-acre fire can become a 4-acre fire real quick.”

In Sabine Parish, wildfire has consumed 2,100 acres of woodlands, 10 homes, eight other structures and several vehicles. The fire started Monday and was contained as of midmorning, according to the Sabine Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Authorities believe the fire started from a spark from a downed utility pole.