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

[Howlin]

No you're joking, right?

However, there are dubious advocates who suggest trepanation even for healthy people, claiming that after an operation capillaries in the brain should operate on a higher metabolism resulting in a higher state of consciousness. Some claim spiritual benefits.

You know that would NEVER work on the MSM! :-)

[james_f_hall]

I really would like to hear a rebuttal from Michael Crichton. Plug his book too. State of Fear. Talks about how envirowhackos use natural disaster to push their agenda. Good book in that regard. Weak story though.

[mjwise]

The funny part is that the Gulf sea surface temperatures (SSTs) are about normal now for this time of year thanks to the wake of Katrina which stirred up cooler water over most of the Gulf, and yet Rita strengthens at an even higher pace than Katrina did. There's a good chance that Rita will show that concerns about abnormally high SSTs being the determining factor of abnormally strong hurricanes will be negated for other factors.

[Miss Marple]

I already went and filled my car earlier this afternoon. I also have some cash on hand in case of the country's "economic collapse".

Reuters is full of it.

By the way, Neil Cavuto is turning too whiny for my taste. He keeps asking if we can afford all of this.

Why no, Neil, we can't! I think we should let people wander through the Midwest as refugees and hope that strangers will take them in without cost to the government.

I am FED UP with most of the media. Also, Fox needs to quit showing those old Galveston photos. They are not helpful.

[Arizona Carolyn]

They say these large hurricanes create their own weather. Wonder if Rita pushed that ridge out of her way? Sure looks to me like it's headed directly towards the TX/LA border right now.

[Spktyr]

That tends to happen when something comes along and destroys one of your cities along with the vast majority of its inhabitants (Galveston 1900).

Galveston 1900 haunts Texas emergency planners.

[BurbankKarl]

I call B.S.

New Orleans had bad batteries in their satellite radios, and they failed to charge, New Orleans did not have shortwave in their EOC, Louisiana State Patrol turned away Tyco techinicians to repair the City of New Orleans radio system for a week, and Motorola techinicians to repair the State trunked radio system in Jeff co and the North shore. So many satellite radios were flown in by FEMA and the military that the channels were overwhelmed. New Orleans and Louisiana failed to plan....FNC is full of crap, crap, crap....like Geraldo's Friday of Fiction at the NO Convention Center

"or I should say, Fox News has. Sorry to be vague about names, but one of the Fox reporters "confirmed" that communications during Katrina were compromised because all the good stuff had been diverted to Iraq."

[oceanview]

for the MSM, only the specific radios and phones that are in iraq - can be used in Texas and New Orleans. no others will work.

[SE Mom]

Holy S$$T- 908???????

I knew it went to an official 5- but hadn't seen the mb drop. Last I knew it was 920...and that was 30 mins ago!

[Jrabbit]

I'm right outside of Dallas.....tornados are a big threat, but if this sucker goes to LA, we won't get much.

[Tall_Texan]

Dan Rather got noticed by CBS News because of his coverage of Hurricane Carla in 1961. He took the imaginative step of taking a camera to the local NWS office and showing a fuzzy radar image that captured the eye of the storm.

From there, it was the civil rights news in the South then Dealey Plaza then Vietnam then White House correspondant and the rest is history.

There are a LOT of local newshounds in various podunk locations hoping the hurricanes will be their "big break".

[Knitting A Conundrum]

I don't read this version of the vortex stuff good, but they pulled the pressure out somewhere:

398
UZNT13 KNHC 211949
XXAA 71207 99243 70864 08146 99908 27244 28528 00/// ///// /////
92/// ///// ///// 85586 24044 29528 70306 27671 31022 88999 77999
31313 09608 81937
61616 AF300 1418A RITA OB 12
62626 EYE SPL 2432N08634W 1940 LST WND 012 MBL WND 29032 AEV 2050
7 DLM WND 30528 908746 WL150 28531 079 =
XXBB 71208 99243 70864 08146 00908 27244 11852 24041 22845 25657
33826 24657 44814 27061 55790 26262 66740 29069 77697 27068
21212 00908 28528 11901 28535 22892 29028 33885 29536 44872 29535
55866 29528 66857 29026 77850 29528 88807 29538 99772 32025 11764
34521 22697 31022
31313 09608 81937
61616 AF300 1418A RITA OB 12
62626 EYE SPL 2432N08634W 1940 LST WND 012 MBL WND 29032 AEV 2050
7 DLM WND 30528 908746 WL150 28531 079 =



908!!!!

__________

Thread I got it off of is here:
http://www.easternuswx.com/bb/index.php?showtopic=53287&st=0

[Howlin]

And Major Garrett and Wendell Goler; don't forget them.

[md2576]

I agree

[Steve_Seattle]

"I live in NM about 12 hrs from Dallas and if there are any Freepers who need a place to stay I have a nice travel trailer, an extra bedroom and a large living room and den. I have acres and acres of land if you have your own RV or trailer. I only have hook-ups for 2 but if there were more we could come up with something."

It sounds like you've got your own private resort down there.

[Spktyr]

An act of God. That's about it.

[MamaB]

That is why I am watching a Houston TV station. They just tell the news and what people should be doing.

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Shepherd has gotten on the bandwagon of 150 mph...920 mb

Is he in Galveston dodging bullets yet?

[Howlin]

Sticking with NHC has done as well so far this year.

[freeperfromnj]

you'd think they were all going for the Pulitzer or something

Anderson Cooper definitely is going for it. His New Orleans/Katrina coverage has become totally unwatchable.