By admin 
The fifth named storm of the season — Edouard — could become the first hurricane of the season hours before it makes landfall on the Texas coast.
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The National Hurricane Center warned Tuesday morning that “significant strengthening” is possible for the storm, which was a weak tropical depression as of Monday late evening and strengthened into a tropical storm in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Swaths of the Texas and Louisiana coast remain under tropical storm warnings, and some are now under a hurricane watch. Storm surge predictions rose overnight to, with up to 5 feet now expected in the hardest-hit areas. Rainfall rates also crept up slightly, with around 6 inches now expected in Texas and up to 4 inches in Louisiana.
The hurricane center said Edouard could gain maximum sustained winds of 65 mph before landfall, a leap from the 10 a.m. Tuesday rate of 50 mph, as it crosses the very warm waters of the Gulf.
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“The intensity forecast today is problematic. Edouard has managed to develop a small core that could be prone to rapid changes in intensity,” forecasters wrote in the 5 a.m. update.
The small (just 50 miles wide) storm is expected to strike Texas sometime Tuesday, and then rapidly weaken as it travels over land.
This story was originally published September 1, 2026 at 5:04 AM with the headline “Tropical Storm Edouard could become season’s first hurricane before landfall.”
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