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CLAUDETTE WEAKENS TO A TROPICAL STORM OVER SOUTHERN TEXAS (See the NOAA National Hurricane Center for the latest information on this storm. Complete advisories are posted at 11 a.m., 5 p.m., 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. All times are Eastern. Advisories are posted more frequently as the storm nears the USA mainland.) July 15, 2003 � The NOAA National Hurricane Center in Miami, Fla., reports that at 5 p.m. EDT the center of tropical storm Claudette was located near latitude 28.6 north, longitude 97.5 west or about 40 miles west-southwest of Victoria, Texas. This is also just northeast of Beeville, Texas, and about 85 miles southeast of San Antonio, Texas. Claudette is moving toward the west near 14 mph, and a general motion toward the west or west-northwest is expected to continue for the next 24 hours. This motion will bring the center farther inland over southern Texas Tuesday night and Wednesday. (Click NOAA satellite image for larger view of Hurricane Claudette taken at 3:45 p.m. EDT on July 15, 2003. Click here for high resolution, which is a very large file. Please credit “NOAA.”)
Maximum sustained winds are near 70 mph with higher gusts. Further weakening is forecast during the next 24 hours as the center moves inland, and Claudette may weaken to a tropical depression later Tuesday night or Wednesday. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 140 miles mainly over water to the east of the center. There was an unofficial report of a wind gust to 80 mph in Goliad, Texas.
Estimated minimum central pressure is 989 mb, 29.21 inches. Storm surge flooding, swells and battering waves along the Texas coast should slowly subside Tuesday night as the center of Claudette moves farther inland. Storm total rainfall of 5 to 8 inches is possible in association with Claudette. (Click NOAA tracking map for larger view of Tropical Storm Claudette.)
Isolated tornadoes are possible along the upper and middle Texas coastal areas through Tuesday night. At 5 p.m. EDT, the hurricane warning for the Texas coast from Baffin Bay to High Island is changed to a tropical storm warning from Port Aransas to Freeport. All warnings are discontinued north of Freeport and south of Port Aransas.
(Click here to view an animation of NOAA satellite imagery of Hurricane Claudette. The images are from 12:02 a.m. EDT, when Claudette spun into a hurricane, through 1:32 p.m. EDT, after landfall on the Texas coast. The satellite images were taken by the NOAA environmental satellite GOES-12 on July 15, 2003.)
Special Statements from NOAA National Weather Service Forecast Offices. Corpus Christi, Texas Brownsville, Texas Houston/Galveston, Texas Houston, Texas, Doppler Radar Lake Charles, La.
For storm information specific to your area, please monitor products issued by NOAA National Weather Service local forecast offices. NOAA is dedicated to enhancing economic security and national safety through the prediction and research of weather and climate-related events and providing environmental stewardship of the nation�s coastal and marine resources. NOAA is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Relevant Web Sites
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NOAA Forecasters Say Six to Nine Hurricanes Could Threaten in 2003
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