For the second time this year, Texas is preparing for the arrival of a tropical cyclone out of the Gulf of Mexico as Tropical Storm Bertha approaches the upper Texas coast. The storm is expected to move ashore by Thursday evening, bringing pockets of heavy rainfall and some gusty winds.<\/p>\n
As of Thursday morning, Bertha was producing maximum sustained winds of 45 mph while moving west at 13 mph. The storm was centered about 35 miles south of Lake Charles in southwest Louisiana, and 100 miles east-northeast of Galveston. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for the Gulf Coast from Morgan City in south-central Louisiana, to Sargent, near Matagorda Bay, the National Hurricane Center said.<\/p>\n
Tropical-storm-force winds of at least 39 mph, will extend up to 160 miles from the center and the National Ocean Service station at Eugene Islandin southern Louisiana recently reported sustained winds of 36 mph with a wind gust of 45 mph.<\/p>\n
The projected path of the storm takes it along the Louisiana and upper Texas coasts through Thursday afternoon before pushing farther inland across Texas Thursday night into Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cLittle change in strength is expected today, and Bertha is forecast to maintain tropical storm intensity until it reaches the upper Texas coast later today,\u201d National Hurricane Center meteorologists said. \u201cBertha is expected to dissipate inland over Texas by tonight or Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tropical Storm Bertha won’t have much of an effect on Central Texas, as the forecast track turns more to the southwest after the storm moves inland. However, moisture from Bertha will result in some showers and thunderstorms Thursday evening through Friday, especially for areas east of Interstate 35. Some wind gusts up to 30 mph are also possible over the I-35 Corridor and Coastal Plains as Bertha moves inland and weakens.<\/p>\n
Winds will be strongest late this evening through the overnight hours, especially between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. Rain chances will also be highest during that time, ranging from 20% to 50%, with any showers that arise being capable of producing a brief heavy downpour.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tropical Storm Bertha will bring its greatest weather problems to the Texas Gulf Coast, where coastal areas could see increasing winds, tropical showers, heavy rainfall, and hazardous marine conditions through Friday.<\/p>\n
Storm surge: A surge of 1 to 2 feet of water is possible from Port Bolivar to Port Fourchon in\u00a0Louisiana, which could cause minor coastal flooding in normally dry areas near the shoreline.<\/p>\n
Rainfall: Total rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are expected, with isolated totals up to 6 inches possible along the Texas Gulf Coast and South Texas.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Surf: Swells from Bertha will spread along the northern and northwestern Gulf Coast, creating life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re heading to the beach this weekend, remember that rip currents can be dangerous for even experienced swimmers. Swim near a lifeguard when possible and follow posted warnings. If caught in a rip current, stay calm, avoid swimming against it, and swim parallel to the shoreline until you\u2019re out of the current. If you can\u2019t escape, float, tread water, and signal for help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the second time this year, Texas is preparing for the arrival of a tropical cyclone out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":["post-384153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}