Tracking Beta: Hurricane, Tropical Storm Watches Issued Along Texas Gulf Coast

(CBSDFW.COM) – We start the last weekend of summer (the Fall Equinox is on Tuesday) with a HURRICANE WATCH in effect for a large swath of the Texas coastline, basically from Corpus Christi to Houston.

Tropical Storm Beta is forecast to spin up to hurricane strength on Monday and arrive near the Texas coast sometime on that night.

This was the forecast track issued this early afternoon by the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

You can follow me on Twitter at @CBS11Jeffrey or on the CBS 11 Weather Facebook page to keep up with the latest forecasts. They are updated every three hours minimum by the NHC, usually just before the hours of 7 a.m., 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 7 p.m., 10 p.m., 1 a.m., 4 a.m. in Central time.

As of 2 p.m., it appears that Beta will just get onshore as it rides northeast toward Louisiana. The track of Beta is very uncertain at this point; how it interacts with the coastline will determine greatly its direction and strength.

Regardless of the precise track it takes, intense tropical rainfall will result. Forecast models are near unanimous in forecasting a long-duration rain event along the coast.  North Texas could get some of this rain in what has already been a cool and wet September.

We are currently forecasting a 30% to 40% chance of rain on Monday and Tuesday. Highs both days will likely only stay in the 70s.