Edouard Continues Toward Texas

Tropical Storm Edouard has not strengthened dramatically, but is expected to build slowly as it heads toward the Texas coast. There's a good chance it will arrive as a weak Category 1 hurricane:

NEW ORLEANS — Tropical Storm Edouard took aim at the coasts of Texas and Louisiana on Monday, threatening to pick up strength from warm Gulf waters and gain near-hurricane speeds over the next 24 hours.

Emergency teams were activated as Gulf residents prepared for a second strong storm in less than a month, although Edouard is forecast to hit a different stretch of the Texas coast or Louisiana than Hurricane Dolly did last month. ...

Edouard was expected to make landfall somewhere in Texas or southwest Louisiana on Tuesday morning. It was moving west near 8 mph, and forecasters said the warm waters of the Gulf provided the right conditions for the storm to intensify and approach hurricane strength with winds of 75 mph or more.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from the mouth of the Mississippi River westward to San Luis Pass in Texas. A hurricane watch was in effect from west of Intracoastal City, La. to Port O'Connor, Texas.

Edouard had maximum sustained winds near 50 mph with higher gusts at 8 a.m. EDT Monday. The storm's center was located about 80 miles south-southwest of Grand Isle, La., and 285 miles east-southeast of Galveston, Texas.

The current forecast track can be found here.