Tropical Storm Grace expected to slam Texas Gulf Coast Sunday
Well, it certainly looks as if I won't be playing any golf this Labor Day weekend....
Mother Nature has delivered a Labor Day-weekend surprise for coastal Texans: a tropical storm has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and at about 4 p.m. was 280 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi.
Tropical Storm Grace -- at latitude 25.6 north, longitude 93.7 west -- was moving toward the west-northwest near 10 mph. It is expected to continue this path for the next 24 hours.
"As far as storms go, it is probably going to be a minimal tropical storm," National Weather Service meteorologist Charles Roeseler said today. "The track takes it in toward the middle Texas coast toward Matagorda Bay."
The storm could cause additional problems for the area where Hurricane Claudette in July caused an estimated $90 million in losses and wiped out dune systems, which protect central Texas' coastal communities.
"Several of the dunes they had protecting them eroded with Claudette," Roeseler said. "If you have a home down there or people are vacationing for the Labor Day weekend there would be nothing to stop water from cutting off roads."
The storm could produce as much as eight to 12 inches of rain, he said.
Roeseler said Grace didn't appear to be a storm that would rapidly intensify, but this afternoon the tropical storm had slowed.
Meteorologist Bill Read said wind speeds were at about 45 mph today and could strengthen to 60 to 65 mph before Grace's expected landfall Sunday afternoon.
Just another weekend in Paradise....
