UPDATE: 4:07 p.m.
A tropical storm warning is in effect in the greater Houston area as Tropical Storm Cindy brews in the Gulf of Mexico -- with an eye on the Texas and Louisiana coasts.
Harris County and Galveston County are among the areas under a tropical storm warning issued at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The warning extends eastward along the Louisiana coast.
"Heavy rainfall along much of the Gulf Coast remains the biggest threat," according to the National Hurricane Center.
Cindy's winds are at about 45 mph.
Jack Beven with the National Hurricane Center explains that the system has consistently wobbled westward, confounding earlier models that had it headed for the New Orleans area.
Whatever the system's course, "the worst of the conditions will be to the east of where the center makes landfall,” Beven tells NewsRadio 740 KTRH.
Beven says that, as always with these systems, anything can happen.
“It may become a little more symmetric as it approaches the coast, and that’s why I don’t want to say it will have no impact or little impact is it approaches,” Beven says.
Most of the bad weather in a system is to the east. In a formal, named storm -- and this hasn't formed into one -- the northeast quadrant is informally called the "dirty side."
Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist with the Harris County Flood Control District, tells KTRH even if Cindy doesn't show up in Houston, it's a lesson that you need to be prepared at all times during the hurricane season.
“You need to have supplies to take care of yourself for five to seven days after impacts, like non-perishable foods,” Lindner says.
Also, having extra batteries for your flashlights would be a good idea, he says.
Further out, Tropical Storm Bret got its name Monday, but there is no threat to Texas right now -- and it burned out into a tropical wave as sunset approached Tuesday over the eastern Caribbean Sea, according to the NHC.