Tropical Update: Marco Strengthens, Laura Approaches the Gulf

The National Hurricane Center and the National Weather Service are staying busy this weekend as Tropical Storm Marco and Tropical Storm Laura approach the southern and Gulf coasts of the United States.

As we move through the day on Sunday it is likely that Tropical Storm Marco will be upgraded to a Hurricane, Tropical Storm Laura may take a little longer before being upgraded from a Tropical Storm.

Tropical Storm Marco (expected to be a Hurricane later today) is currently moving North/Northwest at 13 mph. The storm has maximum sustained winds at 70mph. Marco is now expected to make landfall late Monday into Tuesday.

The good news for the Crossroads is the current path of Marco through the Gulf of Mexico has been adjusted further to the east. It is now expected to make landfall in Louisianna before spinning overland into Texas. The storm had previously been projected to make landfall near the Houston/Galveston area but today's data has moved all of this further east. Now let's look at Laura.

Tropical Storm Laura just couldn't quite catch up to Marco and these latest models that show Marco making landfall late Monday into Tuesday, also show Laura taking until late Wednesday or early Thursday to make it to the coast. This could mean several days of heavy rainfall over the Louisiana and Southeast Texas coast

Tropical Storm Laura is moving West/Northwest at 18 mph with maximum sustained winds at 45 mph.

As the updates continue to come in over the weekend, by Monday morning we will really be able to see more specifics on the strength of these storms and know more about the rainfall they may bring to our area.

Sunday in the Crossroads will feature a mix of sun and clouds with a stray shower or thunderstorm. Highs today will be in the mid-90s. Stray showers and thunderstorms will be possible late tonight into Monday.