Following a Tropical Storm Watch advisory announced late Sunday, the National Hurricane Center has upgraded the developing disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico to a tropical storm, Tropical Storm Francine. In its latest update, 4 am Tuesday morning, NHC has stated that it expects for Francine to intensify into a hurricane as soon as today ahead of previous predictions of the storm doing so Wednesday.
What is a tropical storm?
A tropical storm is characterized by severe wind speeds, high waves, downpour rainfall, and in some cases flooding and storm surges.
How severe is Tropical Storm Francine?
NHC expects for Tropical Storm Francine to characteristic tropical storm conditions with sustained winds of 50 mph, with higher gusts. Experts predict that Tropical Storm Francine will also bring rainfall between 4 and 8 inches, and in some local areas, as high as 12 inches.
The NHC predicts that Tropical Storm Francine will intensity into a Category 2 hurricane before reaching the Louisiana Coast by Wednesday evening.
How will Tropical Storm Francine affect Houston?
As the storm continues to develop, officials have begun to roll out new watches and warnings for Houston-area counties. Presently, there is a Tropical Storm Watch is in place for all coastal areas of southeast Texas, including for the following areas:
- Bolivar Peninsula
- Brazoria Islands
- Chambers
- Coastal Brazoria
- Coastal Galveston
- Coastal Harris
- Coastal Jackson
- Coastal Matagorda
- Galveston Island
- Matagorda Islands
- Southern Liberty
The National Weather Service predicts that the storm will strengthen into a hurricane before making landfall on Louisiana coast this Wednesday.
“Potential impacts to southeast Texas include the prospect of locally heavy rainfall along the immediate coast, 1-3 feet of storm surge across the coast and along the bays, and gusts to tropical storm force along the coast. Impacts are expected to begin later in the day on Tuesday and persist into Wednesday,” the National Weather Service states on its website.
As far as the storm’s potential impacts in Texas, the weather officials note hazardous winds along the Upper Texas Coast resulting in potential damage to property, snapped and unrooted trees, blown fences, fallen debris, and scatter power outages.
In Southeast Texas, the National Weather Service predicts little to no impact.
A Storm Surge Watch is presently in place for High Island Texas to the Mississippi/Alabama border. A Hurricane Watch is in effect along the Louisiana coast. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect from the Barra del Tordo to the Mouth of the Rio Grande and from the Mouth of the Rio Grande to Port Mansfield.
At the time of this article, there are no warnings nor advisories in place for the Houston area; however, there are coastal flood warnings in effect for surrounding Brazoria County and La Porte.
There will be a broader risk of substantial rainfall along the Texas coastal border beginning Wednesday morning.
Experts are still tracking the storm, with the center of Tropical Storm Francine accelerating northeastward expected to reach the Louisiana coast by Wednesday evening. Stay tuned for more details.
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