Tropical Storm Edouard forms in Gulf, prompts hurricane watch

Cybersecarmor.com – A hurricane watch is in effect along the northwestern Gulf Coast as the National Hurricane Center warns Tropical Storm Edouard could be near hurricane strength as it approaches landfall near the Louisiana/Texas state line on the afternoon of Sept. 1.

Edouard formed on Aug. 31, becoming the fifth named storm of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season.

Tropical storm force winds are expected to arrive along the Texas coast by 8 a.m. on Sept. 1, bringing heavy rain to southwestern Louisiana and the upper Texas coast, with locally higher amounts of up to 6 or 9 inches in some locations, the hurricane center said .

Outer bands of the storm could be seen by early evening on National Weather Service radar in Lake Charles, Louisiana on the evening of Aug. 31. With maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, the storm was centered about 125 miles southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, and about 155 miles southeast of Port Arthur, Texas at 11 p.m.

All of the named storms so far in the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season have maintained tropical storm force: None have strengthened into hurricanes. But there's a chance Edouard's trip through the warmer than normal Gulf water could help it briefly intensify to hurricane strength before it makes landfall.

Although Edouard is not forecast to become a hurricane, the hurricane center has warned coastal residents to closely monitor the forecast as the storm is in an area of warmer than normal water and low wind shear, which favor strengthening. The watch is in effect from High Island to the Cameron/Cameron Parish line.

A tropical storm warning was hoisted by the hurricane center from Port Bolivar, Texas, to the Vermilion/Cameron Parish Line in Louisiana as of midday on Aug. 31. A tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area, in this case within the next 24-36 hours.

Storm surge watches and warnings were listed along the coast from High Island, Texas, to the Vermilion/Cameron Parish Line, with a forecast storm surge of 2 to 4 feet. A coastal flood advisory is in effect for lower Vermilion Parish, according to the weather service. Further east in Louisiana, a storm surge of 1 to 3 feet could occur eastward toward Morgan City. On the Texas coast, a 1-foot to 2-foot surge could occur as far south as San Luis Pass, according to the hurricane center.

Downpours are forecast to spread westward across southern Louisiana on Aug. 31, AccuWeather said . Showers and thunderstorms will spread west into Texas overnight.

"Houston and surrounding communities may experience the most persistent rainfall from late Monday night [Aug. 31] through Tuesday [Sept. 1]," AccuWeather meteorologist Emma Belscher said in an online forecast .

The track forecast calls for the center of the storm to be just offshore at the Texas/Louisiana line around 5 p.m. ET on Sept. 1, with winds of 60 mph, then move about 100 miles to the northwest over the next 12 hours as it disintegrates into a tropical depression.

The system is expected to produce rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches with maximum totals of 9 inches for parts of the upper Texas coast inland through east-central Texas, with 2 to 3 inches for southwest Louisiana, the hurricane center said . The rain could could produce flash flooding, especially in low-lying and urban areas.

In addition to flooding, the storm may produce locally gusty winds, especially near the coast and within heavier thunderstorms, AccuWeather said . Rough surf and locally hazardous conditions for small craft are also anticipated over the northern Gulf.

Elsewhere, the hurricane center is keeping an eye on whether the remnants of Tropical Storm Dolly could develop again. The latest forecast says no.

"A surface trough of low pressure (the remnants of Tropical Storm Dolly) is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms near and over portions of Hispaniola, Turks and Caicos, and the southeastern Bahamas" the hurricane center said .

However, "significant development of this system is no longer expected while it moves west-northwestward at 15 to 20 mph over the southwestern Atlantic.

"Regardless, the system could bring locally heavy rains and gusty winds to portions of these areas during the next couple of days."

Residents in Hawaii are once again being asked to keep an eye on a tropical system that could move past the state. Tropical Storm Lowell is forecast to approach the region from the south by mid-week, the hurricane center said.

Hurricane Karina also is moving westward in the Pacific and could be well to the northeast of Hawaii by the weekend of Sept. 5, according to the hurricane center forecast.

A red blob on the hurricane center's forecast map well south of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula represents a developing tropical system, one that some models show could eventually impact California.

That would be an unusual occurrence: The last tropical storm to make landfall in southern California was in 1939, according to hurricane specialist Michael Lowry in an email to USA TODAY.

"A strong tropical disturbance designated Invest 95E in the eastern Pacific – located about 1,500 miles south-southeast of San Diego – is getting some attention out west because of long-range forecasts from the American GFS suggesting the possibility of a hurricane threat to southern California in about a week," he said. Meteorologists said the majority of model guidance does not indicate a credible hurricane threat to California during the second week of September.

That area of disturbed weather could track toward the northwest and could be responsible for bringing some "monsoonal moisture into portions of southern California for next weekend," the weather service office in San Diego said in an Aug. 31 long-term forecast. "More direct impacts from a decaying tropical cyclone are less likely," the weather service said, with fewer than 5% of the weather model solutions supporting such a possibility.

Doyle Rice and Dinah Voyles Pulver are national correspondents for USA TODAY, with a focus on weather and climate.

This story has been updated to add new information.