Forecasters: Tropical Storm Beta heads for Texas

Tropical Storm Beta’s forecast track is aimed for a Texas landfall north of Corpus Christi, forecasters say.

On its latest forecast track, the center of Beta will move move inland over the Texas coast Monday or Monday night, according to the 8 p.m. Sunday advisory from the National Hurricane Center.

Beta is moving slowly and is expected to dump huge amounts of rain on the area — including Houston — between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. It is no longer forecast to become a hurricane.

Meanwhile, a weak low pressure system that formed off the coast of eastcentral Florida has moved inland and was bringing rain. The system was over southwestern Florida as of 8 p.m. Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. Although the system was initially given a low 10% chance of development as it moves west off of Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico, as of Sunday night it had no chance of developing into a cyclone, hurricane center forecasters said.

Beta formed in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, right after Tropical Storm Wilfred and Subtropical Storm Alpha in the Atlantic, bringing the hyperactive 2020 hurricane season up to 23 named storms.

That’s the first time since possibly 1893 that three new storms were named in one day and definitely the first time that’s happened since 1953 when storms were first named, the National Hurricane Center said.

The three storms that formed on Aug. 15, 1893, were storms 4, 5, and 6, according to hurricane center meteorologist Dennis Feltgen.

The hurricane center has reliable records for storms going back to 1851, he said. It’s just the second time in history that forecasters have had to turn to the

Greek alphabet for storm names.

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, Beta was 120 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas. It had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph and was inching west-northwest at 6 mph.

A tropical storm warning was issued from south of Port Aransas to Morgan City, La. A tropical storm watch is in effect for Baffin Bay to Port Aransas.

A storm surge warning extends from Port Aransas, Texas, to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, La. Tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 195 miles as of 8 p.m. Sunday. Forecasters are monitoring other systems, as well.

Hurricane Teddy is expected to skirt Bermuda’s eastern side as a hurricane on Monday, bringing an increasing risk of strong winds, storm surge and heavy rainfall, the National Hurricane Center said.

A tropical storm watch has also been issued for the coast of Nova Scotia, from Lower East Pubnico to Canso, in Canada.

The latest forecast track has Teddy approaching Bermuda Sunday night, with its center passing east of the island Monday morning.

Teddy was expected to approach Nova Scotia late Tuesday or Wednesday.

At 8 p.m. Sunday, Teddy was about 225 miles southsoutheast of Bermuda, which is under a tropical storm warning. Teddy was moving northwest over the open Atlantic at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph.

Teddy has dropped to Category 2 strength with hurricane-force winds extending 80 miles from the center, and its tropical storm-force winds extend outward up to 230 miles. “Teddy is a large hurricane,” the National Hurricane Center said in the 8 p.m. Sunday public advisory.

Wilfred, meanwhile, weakened to a tropical depression. As of 8 p.m. Sunday, it was about 1,030 miles east of the Lesser Antilles, with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph. It was moving west-northwest at 20 mph. Alpha had dissipated completely by Saturday night.

After Beta, the next storms will be Gamma and Delta and Epsilon. This has only ever happened once before — during the recordshattering 2005 hurricane season that produced Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. In that year, Tropical Storm Zeta formed on Dec. 30, the 28th named storm.

Meanwhile, the fallout from Hurricane Sally continued to do damage. The slow-moving rainmaker came ashore as a Category 2 hurricane and drenched the Florida Panhandle and southeast Alabama, leaving many coastal cities flooded. Two people in Alabama were reported killed — a drowning and a death during the cleanup in Baldwin County. In Florida, authorities were looking for a missing kayaker who was feared dead in Escambia County.

Hundreds of thousands of people were still without power Saturday along the Alabama coast and the Florida

Panhandle as officials assessed millions of dollars in damage that included a broken bridge in Pensacola and ships thrown onto dry land.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned residents and visitors in flooded areas that they would need to remain vigilant as water from the hurricane subsides, because heavy rains to the north were expected to cause flooding in Panhandle rivers in coming days.

Hurricane season runs from June 1-Nov. 30. So far this season, there have been eight hurricanes and 23 tropical storms.

Laura was the season’s first major hurricane, making landfall in Cameron, La., as a Category 4 on Aug. 27. Hanna, Isaias and Marco were Category 1 hurricanes that made landfall in Padre Island, Texas; Ocean Isle Beach, N.C.; and at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Hurricane Nana impacted Central America.