Newest advisory shows Beta increasing in speed

TPSO: Person in distress on Dularge Bridge assisted to safety
September 20, 2020
LA 1 to close to ALL traffic this evening
September 20, 2020
TPSO: Person in distress on Dularge Bridge assisted to safety
September 20, 2020
LA 1 to close to ALL traffic this evening
September 20, 2020

Tropical Storm Beta is speeding up a little on its journey to the coast of Texas. The track on the tail end of the storm has changed a little with this advisory, running the depression east, closer along the coast of Louisiana before heading more northeast into Louisiana. More time is needed to determine when and where the track will make its turn.

 

Terrebonne and Lafourche are under a flash flood watch through Wednesday. Floodwaters continue to rise in the southern parts of Terrebonne ad Lafourche. LA 1 remains closed to car traffic south of the Leon Theriot floodgate. In Terrebonne Parish, the following floodgates have been closed as of 4 p.m..: Humble Canal; Boudreaux Canal; Bush Canal; Bayou Petit Caillou; Placid Canal; Bayou Black; Upper Little Caillou Auxiliary Gate; and Pointe aux Chenes Marina Sluicegate. The following gates are still scheduled to close today: HNC Bubba Dove; Bayou Terrebonne Sector Gate; Pointe aux Chenes; Bayou Grand Caillou and Bayou Dularge. (Gates can be monitored here.)

 

 

At 400 PM CDT (2100 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Beta was located by an Air Force Reserve reconnaissance aircraft and NOAA Doppler weather radars near latitude 27.7 North, longitude 94.0
West. Beta is moving toward the west-northwest near 6 mph (9 km/h), and this general motion is forecast to continue for the next day or so. A decrease in forward speed and a sharp turn to the north and
northeast is expected Monday night and Tuesday. 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.


 

Data from the reconnaissance aircraft indicate that maximum sustained winds are near 60 mph (95 km/h) with higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next couple of days before Beta reaches the Texas coast. Weakening is anticipated once Beta moves inland. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 195 miles (315 km) from the center. The estimated minimum central pressure based on data from the Hurricane Hunter aircraft is 996 mb (29.42 inches).

 

Tropical storm conditions are occurring in the tropical storm warning area along the southwestern Louisiana coast and will spread westward to the warning areas in Texas tonight through early Monday. Tropical storm conditions are possible within the tropical storm watch area along the south Texas coast on Monday.

 

The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline. The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide:


San Luis Pass, TX to Sabine Pass, TX including Galveston Bay, 3-5ft
Port Aransas, TX to San Luis Pass, TX including Copano Bay, Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, and Matagorda Bay, 2-4 ft
Sabine Pass, TX to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, LA including Sabine Lake and Calcasieu Lake, 2-4 ft
Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, LA to Ocean Springs, MS including Vermilion Bay, Lake Borgne, Lake Pontchartrain, and Lake Maurepas,1-3 ft
Baffin Bay, TX to Port Aransas, TX including Corpus Christi Bay and Baffin Bay, 1-3 ft
Mouth of the Rio Grande to Baffin Bay, TX…1-2 ft

 

The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast in areas of onshore winds, where the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves. Surge-related flooding depends on the relative timing of the surge and the tidal cycle, and can vary greatly over short distances. For information specific to your area, please see products issued by your local National Weather Service forecast office.