By Gary Joiner
TFB Radio Network Manager
It’s officially summer, and most Texans are doing their best to stay cool and escape the heat. Many are also watching the budding tropical developments in the Gulf of Mexico.
Mark Fox, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth, told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network that Tropical Storm Cindy has the potential to bring heavy rainfall in the Gulf states.
As of Wednesday morning, a tropical storm warning has been issued from San Luis Pass, Texas, to the Alabama-Florida border, including Lake Pontchartrain, which means tropical storm conditions are expected within 36 hours. This warning area includes New Orleans, Houston, Galveston, Texas, Lake Charles, Louisiana, Lafayette, Louisiana, Biloxi, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama.
Tropical storm conditions are beginning to be experienced within the warning area and will spread westward within the warning area through early Thursday.
“There are going to be some winds and some coastal effects and high waves along the Gulf coast not only in Texas, but also in Louisiana and even into Florida,” Fox said. “It looks like a very heavy rain event. The Gulf states are going to get fairly big rounds of rain coming through over the next five to six days.”
Cindy is expected to move northwestward and approach the coasts of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas late Wednesday into Wednesday night, before moving inland near the Texas/Louisiana border Thursday.
Fox said forecasters are anticipating a busy hurricane season in the Atlantic.
“I think one of the biggest things is that the eyes are going to be down in the Gulf. Does the system have a name, what are we calling it, where’s the track, and all that. I wouldn’t focus too much on that. I would just focus on the potential for development down there, and watch the forecast and make sure you’re aware of any kind of changes in those forecasts, as well,” he said.
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