Hurricane Hunters are finding Tropical Storm Edouard is strengthening as it spins about 50 miles SE of Port Arthur, Texas.

Winds are up to 50 mph but smaller storms like Edouard can intensify quickly and additional strengthening is expected ahead of landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border.

During latest flight into the storm, they found stronger winds with a 65 mph measurement just south of the storm’s center.

A Hurricane Watch is up just in case the storm rapidly organizes & winds approach hurricane strength ahead of landfall this afternoon.

Bands of heavy rain will impact parts of the Upper Texas coast, east-central Texas into SW Louisiana Tuesday & Wednesday as Edouard tracks inland.

3-6″ of rainfall with isolated totals up to 9″. Flash flooding & river flooding is possible across the region.

Peak storm surge of 3 to 5 feet is possible from High Island, TX to Vermilion/Cameron Parish Line, LA. Outside of these areas, peak surge is 1-3 feet for places like Morgan City, Louisiana.

The storm’s landfall times out close to low tide so that will limit the storm surge threat for coastal communities.

Wind impacts won’t be widespread, but a stretch of coastline could be affected by damaging gusts. This is a small system with tropical-storm-force winds only extending 25 miles from Edouard’s center.

Tropical Storm Warning is up for Texas and Louisiana as Tropical Depression Five gets better organized 130 miles off the coast of Louisiana.

The warning runs from Port Bolivar, Texas to the Vermilion/Cameron Parish line in Louisiana.

We’ll likely see this strengthen into Tropical Storm Edouard late today into Tuesday. Once sustained winds reach 39 mph, this will officially become our 5th named storm of the season.

The system will reach the upper Texas or southwestern Louisiana coast Tuesday, bringing heavy rain and storms to the region through Wednesday.

Houston could be in the bullseye for 3 to 6 inches of rain from the system. Heavy rain and flash flooding are the main threats, with isolated areas getting up to 9″ of rain.

Peak storm surge of 1 to 3 feet above normal tide will be possible along with rough surf along the Gulf Coast.

This is the same low pressure area we’ve been watching the last few days in the northern Gulf (formerly Invest 97L). High pressure to its north is guiding this system west away from Florida.

The remnants of Dolly are no longer being watched for tropical development.