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.
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