Tropical Storm Arthur Forms Off Texas Coast, First of Season

Tropical Storm Arthur formed Wednesday off the Gulf Coast of Texas, becoming the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season before being downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone.

The storm developed near the middle of the Texas coast, less than 50 miles from Port O'Connor, according to the National Hurricane Center.

It was centered about 35 miles northeast of Galveston, Texas, and 85 miles west-southwest of Lake Charles, Texas, as of late Wednesday night. It was traveling northeast with maximum sustained winds of 35 mph as it weakened Wednesday night below the 39 mph threshold required to be considered a tropical storm. Arthur's winds had remained far below the speed necessary for a storm to be classified as a hurricane.

Forecasters predicted that Arthur's remnants would move inland over southeastern Texas.

"While additional weakening is expected as the system moves inland, the remnants of Arthur will continue to produce widespread heavy rains across the southeastern United States during the next few days," the hurricane center said.

Arthur started developing earlier this week as a tropical disturbance in the western Gulf of Mexico. It emerged and strengthened as coastal communities in the path of the storm contended with ongoing bouts of intense rain, which triggered dangerous flash flooding in multiple states.

Arthur will likely dump 5 to 10 inches of rain on sections of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, along with western portions of the Florida Panhandle, the hurricane center said. Forecasters also warned that storm surge could reach 4 feet above normal levels in coastal areas that normally stay dry, depending on the timing of high tide.

"The deepest water will occur along the immediate coast near and to the east of the landfall location, where the surge will be accompanied by large and dangerous waves," the National Hurricane Center said.

The storm was also expected to produce "life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the northwestern Gulf Coast for the next couple of days," it added. Some tornadoes may be possible, too.