Beta on path to dump rain on Texas

ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Hurricane Center continues to monitor several storms across the Atlantic basin Sunday, including Hurricane Teddy, Tropical Storm Beta and now Tropical Depression Wilfred.

Tropical Storm Beta, named using the Greek alphabet, continues to move in the northwestern Gulf Coast toward Texas. This motion is expected to “produce a long duration rainfall event from the middle Texas coast to southern Louisiana,” according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of 9 p.m. Sunday, TS Beta was located about 120 miles south-southeast Galveston and about 155 miles east-southeast of Port O’Connor with sustained winds of 60 mph. It’s moving west-northwest at 6 mph, a gradual increase from the previous 5 mph forecast on Sunday afternoon.

Several warnings in NHC forecasters’ key messages on Beta include the danger of life-threatening storm surge along portions of the Texas and Louisiana coasts and tropical-storm-force winds along portions of the northwestern Gulf Coast.

Tropical Storm Beta maintains tropical-stormforce winds extending 195 miles from its center. Increasing swells will affect the Texas and Mexico Gulf Coast, and are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, forecasters said.

The NHC extended its storm surge warnings in effect from Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge in Louisiana to coastal parts of Texas such as Port Aransas to High Island — including Copano Bay, Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, Matagorda Bay and Galveston Bay.

“A decrease in forward speed and a sharp turn to the north and northeast is expected Monday night and Tuesday,” forecasters said. “On the forecast track, the center of Beta will continue to move toward the central coast of Texas and will likely move inland by Monday night, and remain close to the coast of southeastern Texas on Tuesday.”

The NHC originally projected Beta to grow at or near hurricane strength over the weekend. A Tropical Storm Warning remains in effect from Port Aransas to Morgan City, La., and a Tropical Storm Watch from Baffin Bay to Port Aransas.