The tropical storm will not last long and is not expected to intensify into a hurricane.

Track Tropical Storm Harlod with the Hurricane Tracker

As you can see in the image below, the storm will bring significant rainfall over the next few days in its predicted path. Tropical storm warnings are in effect

Note: Screenshots and videos from Windy.com may be freely shared. Just credit Windy as the source. (cc-by)

https://www.windy.com/-Weather-radar-radar?radar,27.275,-98.728,6,m:eAiadO4,internal

Storm Beta made landfall on Monday night near the Matagorda Peninsula around 10 p.m. CDT. It is forecasted to produce heavy rain across the Texas and Louisiana coasts over a long period.

The entire area is under a flash flood watches. Storm is expected to slowly weaken as it moves more inland during Tuesday, however it will stay close to the coast of southeastern Texas through Tuesday to Wednesday.

Later in the week, Beta will bring rain to Arkansas, Texas and Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley.

Update: 21st of September, 8:00 a.m.

Beta is located east-southeast of Port Oconnor Texas, travelling at a slow motion along the Texas coast to southeast Louisiana, where it will produce long-lasting rainfall.

Storm surge warning has been issued for Port Aransas, Texas to Rockefeller Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana, including Copano Bay, Aransas Bay, San Antonio Bay, Matagorda Bay, Galveston Bay, Sabine Lake, and Lake Calcasieu.

Tropical-storm-force winds will affect Texas coast today through Tuesday.

Update: 20th of September, 8:00 p.m.

Storm Beta is travelling through the northwest of Gulf of Mexico with sustainable winds of 95 km/h (60 mph). Landfall is predicted on Monday or Monday night.

Beta is currently affecting coastal Louisiana and Texas with showers and thunderstorms. The threats are flooding rainfall, storm surge and gusty winds.

Due to the dry air and wind shear, Beta is not expected to become a hurricane upon its landfall anymore.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect for Port Aransas, Texas, to Morgan City, Louisiana, including Houston and Victoria, Texas, and Cameron, Louisiana.

https://www.windy.com/-Wind-accumulation-gustAccu?gustAccu,24.575,-96.888,6,i:pressure,internal

L’uragano, forse, ha anche causato un incendio nella città di Lake Charles in Louisiana all’interno di un impianto chimico. Una densa e fitta coltre di fumo si è alzata in cielo nella tarda mattinata di oggi. In merito a quest’ultimo evento il governatore John Bel Edwards ha invitato la popolazione a rifugiarsi, spegnere i climatizzatori e attendere nuove disposizioni dei funzionari del governo. Non si conoscono al momento i dettagli su ciò che è andato a fuoco.

Alcune comunità, tra cui Lake Charles, a circa 35 miglia nell’entroterra, sono state distrutte dalla forza del vento. A cominciare dagli Alberi completamente sradicati, case parzialmente inondate, fino pali d’acciaio abbattuti. Questi sono i danni causati dal più devastante uragano dell’anno denominato Laura.

Ci sono buone notizie per quanto concerne l'evoluzione del fenomeno poiché Laura è declassata a tempesta tropicale portando venti e piogge meno intensi, ma comunque forti.

Adesso la tempesta si sposta rapidamente verso l'Arkansas dove le prime forti piogge potranno verificarsi a partire da stanotte, e successivamente proseguirà verso il sud-ovest del Missouri, Kentucky per poi diventare una normale perturbazione nel North Carolina.

Giuliano Merlo

Da Palermo, Italia. Seguimi su Instagram, Facebook e Twitter

• Riproduzione riservata

After 10 hours of hitting US land, Hurricane Laura weakened to a tropical storm, with high wind speeds of 105 km / h, but without stopping the force of its rains.

With dawn, the numerous material damage caused by the hurricane as it passed through Louisiana is becoming evident.
At least one death and numerous damage is the preliminary balance of the arrival of Hurricane Laura to the southeast coast of the United States this Thursday.

The powerful storm, one of the most intense to hit the region in history, made landfall in the early hours of the morning as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

It did so, as the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) had anticipated, producing a "catastrophic storm surge, extreme winds and flooding."

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards confirmed the first fatality in his state, a 14-year-old girl who died from a tree falling on her home in the Leesville area.

One deceased and damages

The NHC reported that Laural's eye first reached the Cameron district of Louisiana at 01:00 am local time (06:00 GMT) and urged the population to protect themselves.

The cyclone registered winds of up to 240 km/h, but dropped to category 2 after making landfall. NHC forecasts indicate that a few hours later it would become a tropical storm.

In its report at 10:00 (15:00 GMT) this Thursday, the NHC reported that Laura maintained maximum sustained winds of up to 120 km/h, which corresponds to category 1 on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

The agency warned of a "dangerous storm surge" for the coasts of Texas and Louisiana, in addition to the fact that the floods seen in some areas will take "several days" to recede.

"Widespread flash flooding along streams, urban areas and on highways will continue through sections of Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas," the alert read.

The arrival of the day showed the debris, broken windows and trees torn from the ground left by Hurricane Laura passage in Lake Charles.

Forecasters had originally warned of an "unsurvivable" storm surge.

However, a slight change in wind direction prevented some areas from flooding up to 20 feet. There were reports of 2.7 meters in some areas.

More than 540,000 homes in Louisiana and more than 130,000 in Texas were without power Thursday morning, according to the PowerOutage site.

https://www.windy.com/upload/es/-Satélite-satellite?satellite,35.111,-87.605,6,internal

Extern

A cominciare dalle forti piogge torrenziali che si stanno abbattendo in queste ore che stanno portando diversi disagi. Già si contano i primi danni con alcuni locali e appartamenti trovati completamente allagati. Anche i venti non scherzano con raffiche fino a 215 km/h.

Secondo come previsto dal Wfaa le aree più vicine alla costa sono state inondate per via delle correnti che spingono l'acqua del mare verso la terraferma.

La categoria dell'uragano è rimasta "4", ma nelle prossime ore declasserà a "2" poiché la sua potenza ed energia verrà scaricata in parte sul Texas.

Diverse città e contee del Texas hanno emesso mandati di evacuazione obbligatoria o volontaria negli ultimi giorni, con migliaia di sfollati diretti a Dallas, San Antonio e Austin. Ma grazie alla pandemia di coronavirus in corso, i funzionari statali e locali si sono affrettati a riparare gli sfollati, spostandosi il più possibile da rifugi di emergenza a camere d'albergo pagate dal governo.

Adesso l'uragano si sposta verso il Nord-Ovest della Louisiana, Arkansas e Kentucky.

Giuliano Merlo

Da Palermo, Italia. Seguimi su Instagram, Facebook e Twitter

• Riproduzione riservata

Laura Continues to Strengthen

Laura formed in the central Atlantic on Friday and has since moved into the Gulf of Mexico where it quickly strengthened into a hurricane.

Hurricane warnings run from San Luis Pass, Texas to Intracoastal City, Louisiana. Storm surge warnings are in place from Freeport, Texas to the mouth of the Mississippi River in Louisiana.

On Wednesday morning, the National Hurricane Center referred to the storm surge threat from Laura as "unsurvivable". Up to 20 feet of storm surge could flood much of southwestern Louisiana and far southeastern Texas.

Category 4 Landfalls Are Rare

Since 1851, only 26 hurricanes of a Category 4 or 5 strength have made landfall on the continental United States. That means that a Category 4 or 5 landfall on the United States takes place only once every six or seven years.

Le immagini satellitari mostrano come Laura sia diventata un "pericoloso uragano", minacciando le coste del Texas, in particolare la città di Houston poiché si potrebbero registrare danni all'energia elettrica e inondazioni.

Nel corso delle prossime ore la situazione peggiorerà drasticamente poiché Laura si trasformerà in uragano di categoria 4 con raffiche di vento superiori ai 250 km/h. Queste stime e previsioni sono state condotte sia dal NOAA che da Windy stessa poiché le proiezioni mostrano come l'uragano, domani, poterà raffiche fino a 285 km/h.

Lo specialista ed esperto di uragani Stacy Stewart ha dichiarato che "le persone che si sveglieranno giovedì mattina non crederanno ai loro occhi di quel che sarà successo".

Nella più grande evacuazione degli Stati Uniti nel periodo del coronavirus, a più di mezzo milione di persone è stato ordinato di evacuare lungo il confine di stato tra il Texas e la Louisiana.

A Galverstone e Port Arthur in Texas, gli ordini di evacuazione obbligatoria sono entrati in vigore a partire da ieri e le lunghe code nelle autostrade fanno veramente paura. Il sindaco di Port Arthur ha dichiarato che "chi resterà rimarrà da solo".

Inoltre, Si prevede, dai nostri modelli, che l'uragano scaricherà fortissime piogge in un brevissimo periodo di tempo causando le famose "alluvioni lampo". Il rischio delle forti precipitazioni si sposterà successivamente in alcune parti del Missouri, Tennesse e Kentucky tra venerdì e sabato.

Giuliano Merlo

Da Palermo, Italia. Seguimi su Instagram, Facebook e Twitter

• Riproduzione riservata

La tempesta tropicale Laura, invece, si rafforzerà diventando uragano sempre a partire tra oggi e domani, prima che approdi sulle coste della Louisiana. Il meteorologo del National Weather Service, Benjamin Scott, ha dichiarato che "Laura potrebbe diventare un uragano di categoria 3, portando fortissimi venti e onde alte fino a 3 metri sulla costa sud-orientale".

Alcuni punti della Louisiana inizieranno a vedere i primi effetti della tempesta tropicale Laura mercoledì mattina, dopo che Marco lascerà lo Stato domani sera. Scott ha anche affermato molto stupito la frequenza record di questi due fenomeni: "La Louisiana si ritroverà colpita da due forti tempeste in 48 ore".

E il governatore della Louisiana John Bel Edwards ha così affermato che "non sarà facile aiutare immediatamente la popolazione visto l'arrivo, nel giro di 24-48 ore, prima di Marco e poi di Laura e potrebbero esserci difficoltà per quanto concerne il ripristino dell'energia elettrica e soprattutto quello di salvare le persone in difficoltà anche se vi sono migliaia di soccorsi in campo con bus, elicotteri e altri mezzi".

La minaccia, dell'ex uragano ha indotto già ieri l'evacuazione di Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana e Grand Isle. Adesso la tempesta si trova a circa 220 chilometri dal New Orleans con raffiche prossime agli 85 km/h e si muove minacciosa verso Port Sulphur.

Giuliano Merlo

Da Palermo, Italia. Seguimi su Instagram, Facebook e Twitter

• Riproduzione riservata

Jorge Torres is the Chief Meteorologist at KOB-TV in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Before that, he was the Morning Meteorologist at KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas, so he’s quite familiar with the Desert Southwest.

When not at work, Jorge enjoys hiking, travelling, exploring new places in New Mexico, eating, working out, and keeping up with his Texas A&M Aggies!

Follow Jorge On Twitter

What was your most memorable weather event?

I actually have two memorable events: one from my childhood and one during my career. My most memorable weather event when I was a boy would be the Jarrell tornado that hit central Texas on May 27th, 1997. I was 10 years old living in Pflugerville, Texas (suburb north of Austin). After an afternoon swim with my family, we were in our home watching TV when Jim Spencer, Chief Weathercaster at KXAN-TV, cut into programming due to a Tornado Warning north of us. The storm rapidly grew in intensity and produced the last F-5 to hit the state of Texas. The tornado hit roughly 30 miles north of where I was, but that same storm produced the darkest skies I’ve ever seen along with high winds and minor flooding in my town.

The other memorable weather event for me was the February Freeze of 2011 that hit much of the south, including El Paso. The powerful Arctic air-mass caused major damage to the infrastructure in the city. El Paso experienced 78 consecutive hours (more than 3 days) of below freezing temperatures, with the coldest being 1º.

What is your favourite and least favourite type of weather?

My favorite type of weather is tropical weather. I’ve always been a fan of summertime thunderstorms that help cool things down after a hot, humid day. I’ve always been very interested in tropical cyclones as well.

My least favorite type of weather is drought. Living and working in the Desert Southwest has shown me how crucial water is. When large periods of drought occur, wildfires can easily form and spread quickly

If you weren’t a meteorologist what would you most like to be?

If I wasn’t a meteorologist, I would love to be a high school science teacher. I enjoy going to local schools and talking to students about weather and science in general. The look of excitement and curiosity from the kids makes it all worthwhile, and I wouldn’t mind having that every day if I was teaching.

From a purely meteorological point of view, where would you most like to live?

From a purely meteorological standpoint, I would most like to live & work in Miami. The potential for afternoon storms and the yearly threat of tropical storms & hurricanes would always keep me on my toes.

If you are interested in being a Featured Meteorologist on StormHour please contact mark@stormhour.com or via DM on Twitter