The Weather Girls say "It's raining men, hallelujah, it's raining men!" This weather girl says "Hallelujah, it's raining" in Louisiana. Not men, but something better for heat wave-beleaguered locals: rain. I was down in crawfish country recently and they need it. With a daytime heat index that reaches an average of 113 degrees, Louisiana swelters under an unrelenting sun.
Unless you have a pool, there aren't many places where the water is cool enough or clean enough to refresh. Many places aren't safe enough to swim either. Alligators dot the banks of the Achafalaya River and at Lake Martin, the gators will come out, like dogs, for treats.
My Michigan-transplant daughter lives in Lafayette, La. Her best friend has lived in the area most of her life and espouses the idea that one can swim with the alligators. She claims they won't hurt you, that they are more afraid of people than we are of them. I visited with Bryan Champagne of Champagne's Cajun Swamp Tours, at Breaux Bridge; what he doesn't know about gators isn't worth knowing. I'm sure as he says, alligators are very docile, except when crossed. Despite that, I'm not going to swim where the alligators play.
Think the Gulf might be a good place to cool off? Wrong. Cypremort Point is a state park outside Broussard. While the water and beach are mostly clear of oil from the BP oil spill, the water is brakish, brown and hot. Added to the high saline content, the water is not really suited for swimming. Jellyfish and sharks lurk about.
There are also flying fish, that while not particularly dangerous, are unappealing, nevertheless. The bugs are bigger down south, too. Walking along the beach, I saw an army cricket the size of a downtown bus. The gulf is lovely for boating and jet-skiing, but not so refreshing if you actually want to swim in it.
Happily, our daughter reports that the heat is lifting. They have been getting rain every day and not just the little cloudbursts Louisiana is known for. During a typical Louisiana rain, the sky is still full sun. It makes me think CCR wrote their song "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" in Louisiana. The precipitation only lasts for a few moments. Because the temperatures are so high, the rain dries virtually on contact. These rains have effectively decommissioned outdoor work and that's unusual for Louisiana outside of their rainy season.
It's still hot in Louisiana, and will be through around October. The sub-tropical rains have gone some way toward cooling it down, however. In the heat-wave-ridden state, good soul thirst-quenching rain is good news. Tom Petty would be very pleased.
Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben is an avid storm chaser and weather watcher. She writes from 25 years teaching earth, life and environmental science.
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