Extreme
weather events are often pointed to as harbingers of what is to come, thanks to manmade climate change. Unfortunately, Tropical Storm Barry, like Hurricane Florence last year and Harvey the year before,
looks like it will once again provide us with an example of what the climate crisis is doing to storms right now, with heavy rainfall from slow moving storms leading to devastating floods.
Forecast projections for Barry show rainfall totals up to 20 inches could fall over portions of Louisiana.
Barry hasn't hit yet, but it's getting stronger as it creeps across the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters en route to a landfall expected early Saturday in Louisiana.
While it could reach hurricane strength, the real peril it poses to roughly 10 million people in its path is rain, which could quickly trigger unprecedented flooding.
Ten to 15 more inches of rain are on the way, threatening to inundate ground already soaked from a Wednesday storm that flooded some New Orleans homes and businesses.
Another risk looms in the Mississippi River.
Usually at 6 to 8 feet this time of year around the Big Easy, the river is at 16 feet after a year of record flooding, and Barry could push in a storm surge of 2 to 3 feet.
