Update: Category 5 Hurricane Rita - Live Thread, Part II

NHC - NOAA ^ | 21 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Category 3 Hurricane Rita became the fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season during the night. Hurricane Rita threaded the needle through the Florida Straits and moved into the Gulf of Mexico. Storm damage in the Florida Keys and South Florida Peninsula was light, with scattered power outages, scattered tornados, and mild to moderate flooding.

Mandatory evacuations are in effect for Galveston County TX and New Orleans. Additional evacuation orders in the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area are anticipated throughout the day.

Crude oil prices reacted as oil producers shut down and evacuated workers from platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 6A, 11A, 6P, 11P
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track

Rita Forecast Track Archive
Forecast Models
Buoy Data Eastern Gulf of Mexico
Buoy Data Western Gulf of Mexico
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas

Images:

Storm Floater IR Loop
GOM WV Loop
GOM IR Still Image
Visible Storm Floater Still (only visible during daylight hours)
Color Enhanced Atlantic Loop
Key West Long Range Radar Still Image

Streaming Video: (coverage may be intermittent)

KHOU-TV/DT Houston: mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_khou
WWLTV NOLA

Additional Resources:

Coastal TX Evacuation Maps
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
Hurricane City
Wxnation Houston

Category	Wind Speed	Barometric Pressure	Storm Surge	Damage Potential
Tropical Depression	< 39 mph < 34 kts			Minimal
Tropical Storm	39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts			Minimal
Hurricane 1 (Weak)	74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts	28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more	4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m	Minimal damage to vegetation
Hurricane 2 (Moderate)	96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts	28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb	6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m	Moderate damage to houses
Hurricane 3 (Strong)	111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts	27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb	9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m	Extensive damage to small buildings
Hurricane 4 (Very strong)	131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts	27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb	13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m	Extreme structural damage
Hurricane 5 (Devastating)	Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts	Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb	Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m	Catastrophic building failures possible

Previous Threads:
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[myprecious]

I-10 was in pretty bad shape still

I would be cautious about the Miss/Ala sections of I 10. I would avoid it until absolutely positive everything was clear.

[steveegg]

923 mb? Daaaaaamn. Are these rapid intensifications because they couldn't get any planes into it for ~12 hours and they're just now catching up with their readings, or is this thing really tightening up this fast?

Take the latter. The previous measurement, made about 1:45 before this one, had the pressure at 934 mb. Data found by janetjanet998 that is about 10-15 minutes newer than that measurement puts the pressure at 922 mb.

[laz]

I guess what I get mad at is lets be honest. If we know this thing is probably going to be a cat 5, then lets talk about it.

Yes. On TWC, they keep saying 140 is the latest info. Bull. That info is what, four hours old now? Are they going to softpedal this now? What for? Nobody had any qualms about reporting it when Katrina got up to 175. Tell the people how bad this thing is. Maybe a few extra ones will evacuate.

[dogbyte12]

Montgomery isn't a bad option though. Go through Slidell up the 59. It would be a very safe place to be.

[Howlin]

http://www.wxnation.com/houston/

[No Blue States]

My wife is trying to get a hold of some in her family from Rockport to offer them one of our daughters rooms.
If they decide not to stay with us I will make a room available free of charge for someone here at my home Thursday and Friday in Fort Worth. I asked her to hurry up about it.

[Sprite518]

OK they just said its a Cat 4 and could even get stronger...

[Howlin]

And what about you? Are you staying?

[cake_crumb]

"We put things away as best we can. It will be very hard to concentrate on business out there though. This is my hometown. Prayers for all!"

Ah, but if the meeting was preplanned, it appears that God is looking out for you. You'll miss the last minute rush as people waiting until the last minute decide to leave en masse. Joining you in praying for all.

I'm glad my dad decided to take his wife on a spur of the moment vacation. Before his byepass surgery last year, he probably would have tried staying.

[burzum]

No. It was beat by many storms. The worst was Super Typhoon Tip at 870 mb. Super Typhoon Tip could have covered about half of the US at one point.

[KSApplePie_two]

CAT 5
923mb
164 max winds

[Malichi]

Check out post 32 on your flying pitbull thread.

[Howlin]

Wow, that is COOL!

[Dane]

Below is a link that documents the most damaging hurricanes back to when Columbus discovered the New World.

Historic Hurricanes

[dogbyte12]

I am staying. I am a good 260 miles east of Houston. We might get tropical storm gusts here if that. I am no hero. If this thing turned towards Lake Charles, I would have left to Atlanta early tomorrow morning. As it is, we shall stay in place. My wife is volunteering at the massive Animal Shelter in town, and wanted to stay too unless it was iffy at all. I feel very safe now. The models are coming into agreement.

[Howlin]

Where is that information from?

[Moose4]

Actually 140 mph may still be right. The aircraft reported flight level winds at 142 knots (163 mph) and those are usually a good bit higher than ground-level winds. So 140-145 mph is still quite plausible.

I don't know if the winds lag a few hours behind the pressure, maybe the rapid lowering of pressure means that the winds will increase in a few hours. Or maybe they won't increase at all. But the rapid intensification is scary any way you cut it.

}:-)4

[freeperfromnj]

Accuweather is almost calling it:

RECON FINDS 175 MPH FLIGHT LEVEL WIND
RITA NEARING CAT 5 HURRICANE!

The NOAA airplane investigating Rita found a peak wind of 175 mph. The pressure has fallen to 923 mb, which is just shy of the 920 mb Cat 5 pressure. Rita continues to strengthen and will become a Cat 5 hurricane.

http://home.accuweather.com/index.asp?partner=accuweather

[cake_crumb]

"Apparently Gilbert holds the world record at 888."

Looks like Rita just broke that record.

[Howlin]

Keep watching. And I know you're ready if you have to go.

As blam pointed out the other day, most of these storms have jogged "left" right off shore.