Texas, Louisiana on Hurricane Watch as Storm Edouard Grows

A hurricane watch has been issued for parts of the Texas and Louisiana coast, as a system gathers strength in the Gulf of Mexico following an unusually calm start to the Atlantic season.

Tropical Storm Edouard was 155 miles (250 kilometers) southeast of Port Arthur, Texas, with top sustained winds of 40 miles per hour, the US National Hurricane Center said in an advisory late Monday. It has become the Atlantic’s fifth named storm of the six-month season.

Edouard could approach hurricane strength before reaching the northwest Gulf coast on Tuesday, the center said. Waves of up to 5 feet (1.5 meters) are possible along parts of the coast, and the storm could bring rain of up to 9 inches to parts of Texas.

The storm is small, but is building over waters warm enough to provide fuel for strengthening, the hurricane center added. That could produce flash flooding, especially in low-lying and urban areas.

Any intensification will likely be short-lived, however, with the system forecast to rapidly weaken after making landfall.

So far this year, four short-lived storms have formed in the Atlantic, none of which reached hurricane strength. Typically, the basin would have produced six named storms by now — two of which would have grown into hurricanes — but this year’s El Niño weather patten in the Pacific Ocean is increasing wind shear across the Atlantic Ocean that’s been holding storms back.

Storms in the Gulf are particularly closely watched because the region is vital to US oil and natural gas production, processing and refining.