National Hurricane Center
Tropical Storm Gordon hasn’t completely formed yet, but the weather system raced over southern Florida, on Monday, September 3, and is currently heading toward the Gulf. The weather system is expected to intensify as he heads north west, eventually making landfall near Gulfport, Mississippi.
The area along the coast (including parts of Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi), is currently under a hurricane watch, and forecasters do believe that the storm could reach a Category 1 hurricane before it reaches land.
Based on the latest computer models released by the National Hurricane Center, Gordon is not set to make landfall near Houston, Texas, nor will the city experience much wind or rain from the event. While the current track could change, Houston is sitting well outside the projected cone, which you can see below.
“Gordon is moving quickly along and is expected to make a second landfall, perhaps as a hurricane, along the corridor from Louisiana to Mississippi during late Tuesday or Tuesday night,” reports Accuweather.
The city of Houston, Texas, was hit by Hurricane Harvey back in August 2017. There were more than 330,000 people left without electricity, in the state of Texas. More than 48,000 homes were damaged in the storm either from downed trees or flooding.
Many areas in Houston saw upwards of 30 inches of rain.
“Houston, about 200 miles north-east of where Harvey made landfall, began seeing wind and rain on Friday. It is notoriously flood-prone and more than 6.5m people live in the metropolitan area. Though officials decided against ordering a mass evacuation from central Houston, voluntary and mandatory evacuations were issued on Saturday for parts to the south west, near two rivers in Fort Bend County. Levels in Houston’s bayous were increasing, giving rise to the prospect that they will burst their banks if the rain continues as predicted,” the Guardian reported at the time.
Hurricane Harvey was the strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. in 13 years. Thankfully, Tropical Storm Gordon will be sparing Houston of its wrath.