Current projections put Don inland along the south Texas coast. Outer rain bands should begin reaching South Padre Island later this morning.

At 7 a.m., Don was located at 25.7 north and 94.3 west or about 195 east of Brownsville and 255 miles southeast of Corpus Christi. The storm was moving west-northwest at 14 mph.

The storm had maximum sustained winds of 50 mph.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for Matagorda to the mouth of the Rio Grande River.

Locally, Don is expected to have only a minimal effect on area weather. A few afternoon showers are possible today, with chances of rain increasing on Saturday.

The chance for rain is 30 percent today and 60 percent tomorrow.

This afternoon’s high will be near 96 under mostly cloudy skies.

The weekend will see highs nearing the century mark on both Saturday and Sunday.

A tropical storm watch means tropical storm conditions are possible within the watch area over the next 48 hours.

As of 7 a.m., Don was located about 545 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi and 495 miles east-southeast of Brownsville.

The storm was moving west-northwest at 10 mph with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph. Based on current projections, Don is expected to make landfall early Saturday morning along the central Texas coast.

Some strengthening is expected over the next 48 hours.

At 4 p.m. local time, the center of Tropical Storm Don was located near latitude 22.2 north, longitude 87.0 west, near the northernmost tip of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. It is currently about 120 miles north of Cozumel and or 755 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi.

Don is moving west-northwest at about 12 mph. The storm is expected to continue its generally northwestward motion for the next 48 hours.

The center of Don should move through the southern and central Gulf of Mexico tonight and Thursday, according to forecasters. If it remains on that track, it is expected to approach the coast of the northwestern Gulf of Mexico Friday.

Reports from an Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated maximum sustained winds were near 40 mph. Gradual strengthening is forecast over the next 48 hours.

Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 45 miles, mainly to the east of the center of the storm.

There are currently no watches or warnings issued for any part of the Texas coast; however, interests in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico are urged to monitor the progress of Don. Watches or warnings may be required for portions of the Texas coast tonight or Thursday.

Responding to an inquiry from InstantNewsKaty, school district spokesman Steve Stanford said both Adams and Team Katy representative Robert Carpenter have been asked to make certain the material cannot be further released or used by unauthorized persons.

“Only one person with Team Katy was in possession of the list, Robert Carpenter, and he has assured us that the list has been deleted and that it was not circulated beyond the PAC,” Stanford said. “Mr. Adams is also aware that the list should be destroyed.”

A number of district residents on the list had expressed concern about the list after Katy ISD Superintendent Alton Frailey admitted the school district released the information despite parents’ instructions that it be kept confidential.

In a letter to parents last week, Frailey admitted the list of phone numbers should never have been released.

Those phone numbers were used as part of a controversial “robo-call” effort by the Team Katy political action committee during the Nov. 2 school bond election.

In his letter, Frailey said the district initially believed the release of the information to Adams was done in compliance with both the Texas Public Information Act and the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, commonly known as FERPA.

Frailey said the district “was required to release a large majority of the numbers,” but not those which parents chose to keep private. However, the district inadvertently released all contact numbers without regard to privacy requests, which was a violation of FERPA provisions.

The superintendent called the release an “unintended mistake.”

“(T)he phone numbers that were associated with students whose parents chose a privacy code of ‘O’ or ‘N’ should not have been released. Because the request was made for parent phone numbers only instead of the typical student numbers, privacy codes were not attached,” Frailey said in his letter. “This was an unintended mistake on our part and we sincerely apologize for this lapse.”

Frailey also said the district had “reviewed our procedures to ensure that the release of directory information deemed not public does not occur again.”