Hurricane watch issued as Tropical Storm Edouard approaches Texas-Louisiana coast

<i>CNN Weather via CNN Newsource</i><br/>The next Atlantic storm name is Edouard.

By CNN Newsource

Published August 31, 2026 3:15 am

By Meteorologists Briana Waxman, Chris Dolce

(CNN) — Tropical Storm Edouard formed in the northern Gulf on Monday evening and is expected to continue strengthening, prompting a hurricane watch ahead of landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border on Tuesday.

The storm has sustained winds of 40 mph and is located about 125 miles southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, according to the National Hurricane Center. Edouard is moving west-northwest at 7 mph.

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The short-fuse storm could approach hurricane strength before reaching the northwestern Gulf Coast Tuesday. It is forecast to move inland over southeastern Texas Tuesday night and rapidly weaken.

A few thunderstorms in Edouard’s outer rainbands have arrived in parts of southern Louisiana and southeast Texas. Tropical storm conditions – gusty winds and heavy rain – are expected as soon as Tuesday morning, while hurricane conditions are possible within the hurricane watch area Tuesday.

A hurricane watch extends from High Island, Texas, to Cameron, Louisiana. A tropical storm warning stretches from Port Bolivar, Texas, to the Vermilion-Iberia parish border in Louisiana.

A storm surge warning is also in effect from High Island to the Vermilion-Cameron parish border. A life-threatening storm surge of 3 to 5 feet above normally dry ground is possible there, with 1 to 3 feet possible farther east to Morgan City, Louisiana.

Heavy rainfall is the biggest concern from the storm.

A Level 2 of 4 risk of flooding rainfall has been issued in southeast Texas for both Tuesday and Wednesday, including Houston on Tuesday but shifting slightly north on Wednesday. The threat level could be raised in future updates.

Torrential rainfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour will be more than enough to cause flash flooding, especially on roads. Storm totals of 3 to 6 inches are expected from the upper Texas coast into east-central Texas, with up to 9 inches possible in isolated spots. Far southwestern Louisiana could receive 2 to 3 inches.

Tropical storm-force wind gusts capable of causing spotty power outages are also possible along the coast from the storm’s most intense bands of rain.

Edouard is a small storm, with tropical storm-force winds extending only 25 miles from its center. Small systems are more prone to abrupt changes in intensity, so forecasters are watching closely to see whether it strengthens more than anticipated.

The risk of downed trees and power outages would increase for a small area where the storm’s center moves inland if Edouard reaches hurricane strength.

El Niño is bossing hurricane season

Another short-lived storm fits with what the 2026 Atlantic season has delivered so far due to a strengthening and potentially record-breaking El Niño.

The 2026 Atlantic hurricane season’s activity is running just 11% of average as of August 30, according to one measure.

The most recent storm, Dolly, fell apart in the open Atlantic on August 28 after lasting just 24 hours. Cristobal disintegrated just as quickly in the northern Atlantic on August 13. The other two storms, Arthur and Bertha, had brief shelf lives in the Gulf in June and July, respectively.

The Atlantic season’s first hurricane is nearly three weeks late compared to the average. It’s the longest the Atlantic has gone without a hurricane since 2022, when Danielle formed on September 2.

The Atlantic’s latest first hurricane happened on September 11, according to satellite-assisted records dating to 1966. Hurricanes Gustav in 2002 and Humberto in 2013 hold a tie for that record.

September is the typical peak of Atlantic hurricane season thanks to a combination of more favorable weather ingredients.

The most basic building block is warmer water temperatures, which peak in September after basking in summer’s heat, and provide fuel for storms to form and strengthen.

Lower wind shear, aka tropical-system kryptonite, is the other big ingredient. Wind shear involves changes in wind speed and direction at different levels of the atmosphere, and it can rip apart anything from budding tropical systems to fully developed hurricanes.

But this year’s El Niño has made wind shear unusually strong and widespread in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean. That has stifled storm chances and ripped apart storms like Dolly.

It’s also the main reason forecasters have called for a muted season overall.

But that’s no reason to ignore the rest of hurricane season completely. Storms can still find windows of opportunity to form and become a threat, even in an overall subdued season.

Meteorologists Dakota Smith and Tyler Ory contributed to this report.