How Much Rain Will Hurricane Harvey Bring to New Orleans?

Current forecasts don’t put Louisiana in Hurricane Harvey’s direct path, but the storm is likely to send out waves of tropical rainfall over the next week that could douse New Orleans and surrounding areas. Exactly how much rain can we expect and when?

The short -- and most conservative -- answer is that it is still too early to get a good read on rainfall amounts in Louisiana before seeing what the storm does once it hits Texas. Harvey is expected to make landfall as a Category 3 hurricane sometime late Friday (Aug. 25) or early Saturday.

An early forecast map released Thursday by the National Weather Service shows the New Orleans area could see 4 to 6 inches of rain over the next week. That compares with 10 to 15 inches of rain for parts of southwest Louisiana that sit on the Texas border, and 12 to 20 inches in areas directly in the path of the storm. Parts of Texas could get as much as 35 inches of rain.