BY DREW HINSHAW

Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Marginally strange storms are brewing in the clouds above St. John Parish.

In the aftermath of an uncommonly dry spring, the parish is catching up to its yearly rainfall average following a number of whopping thunderstorms in the past two months, according to the National Weather Service.

On June 5 alone, the service recorded 3.8 inches of rain in Reserve. That one storm accounted for almost half of the total rainfall for June – 7.67 inches – which, itself, was a good inch above the 30-year-average for the parish.

So far, July stands to top its average, too, says the service. Already, storms on July 3 and July 5 dropped 1.92 and 1.2 inches of rain, respectively on observation centers in Reserve.

With a soaking 11.47 inches of total rainfall since June 1st, the parish has experienced a healthy 33.5 inches of rain in 2007 thus far, according to the service. That’s only 1.5 inches behind where the service says the

year-to-date figures should be, based on a 30-year-average.

Meanwhile, weather stations in Baton Rouge and New Orleans show both lagging behind their yearly average. Baton Rouge has reported 30 inches of rain thus far – they should be at 34. New Orleans has reported 28.5 inches so far, and they should be at 35.

&#8220One thing that’s kind of unique to St. John is the way the lake breeze sets up off of Lake Pontchartrain and to a lesser extent, Lake Maurepas,” National Weather Spokesman Tim Destri said. &#8220You can almost get a collision of these two lake breezes, with a sea breeze coming up from the south. You get some pretty interesting thunderstorms.”

In the wake of such downpours, expect mild amounts of street flooding, says Destri.

&#8220When you get these summertime, slow-moving, heavy rains street flooding can be pretty common,” Destri said.