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Hurricane Watch Issued for Texas Coast as Harvey Heads Towards State

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Tony Maples Photography

 

The remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey emerged in the Bay of Campeche early this morning. The storm has now been upgraded to a tropical depression by the National Hurricane Center.

The latest model runs from Wednesday morning indicate that Tropical Depression Harvey will gain strength as it moves Northwest towards the Texas Gulf Coast. For the last couple of days, the consensus among forecast models has been predicting landfall along the coast between Brownsville and Galveston. The outer reaches of the system could begin affecting the coast as early as Friday morning, with landfall possible sometime over the weekend.

The strength of tropical systems is notoriously difficult pin down, with models varying from a tropical storm to moderate hurricane at landfall. Finer details will become more apparent over the next couple of days.

Hurricane hunters are currently en route to measure and investigate the system.

Hurricane Hunter
Photo: NOAA

This morning’s 10 a.m. advisory shows Harvey moving northwest at 8 mph with sustained winds of 35 mph. Once maximum sustained winds exceed 39 mph, the system will be upgraded to a tropical storm.  If sustained winds exceed 74 mph, the storm would be upgraded to a hurricane.

  • Hurricane and tropical storm watches have been issued across southeastern Texas.
  • A Storm Surge Watch has been issued for the coast of Texas from Port Mansfield to High Island.
  • A Hurricane Watch has been issued for the coast of Texas from north of Port Mansfield to San Luis Pass.
  • A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for the coast of Texas from the Mouth of the Rio Grande to Port Mansfield and from north of San Luis Pass to High Island.

You can get the latest updates on Harvey from the National Hurricane Center at www.nhc.noaa.gov/#Harvey.

Reference:
National Hurricane Center