National Weather Service

The National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Milton is intensifying and will likely be a major hurricane before it slams into the storm-ravaged Florida coast, most likely on Wednesday.

Less than two weeks into the official start of summer, record-breaking heat has already swamped Louisiana and much of the South. And forecasters say the dangerous heat will likely continue.

It was the ceremonial start to the second round of data collection that will help NOAA understand tornado formation in the Southeast — an understudied region where tornadoes cause more deaths than anywhere else in the country.

A combination of strong winds and heavy rain could produce severe weather conditions, including tornadoes, in much of southeast Louisiana on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, according to National Weather Service forecasters.

A cold front will bring plummeting temperatures to the region just ahead of Christmas.

Widespread showers are expected through Thursday morning in Baton Rouge and parts of metro New Orleans.

A tornado was reportedly spotted in Lacombe on Wednesday evening, just a week after another tornado touched down in that part of Lacombe during a severe weather event.

Only a week after tornadoes and thunderstorms hit southeast Louisiana, another severe weather event is trekking toward Baton Rouge and New Orleans, resulting in closures Wednesday. Shelters were also made available in select parishes.

One of the two tornadoes that swirled across the New Orleans region had peak winds of 160 mph and traveled more than 11 miles into three parishes, a report from National Weather Service meteorologists confirmed Thursday.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell said tornado damage was mostly minimal in Orleans Parish, except for a few structures in New Orleans East