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

[dogbyte12]

Rita's "Special Sources" Will get you for that one ;)

[Spktyr]

I have this pet theory that Mother Nature or God is following Nagin's home with hurricanes. Idiot moves to Dallas, a hurricane tries to get to him here.

[steveegg]

I wonder who Fox will send to Texas to cover this? Shep? Jerry?

Shep and Jerry are probably fighting right now on who gets to go to Galveston.

[jpsb]

San Leon, on Galveston bay, this is looking like anther Carla, bad here but not horrible. .

[morans14]

My other siblings and I are discussing that very thing. He has 4 children, a very pregnant wife, and assorted dogs and cats.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Last report (which was an estimate, cause they didn't get to do the earlier flight) says it looks like winds of 140...so saying 160 is not out of the question...

[uncitizen]

Doesn't Fox have somebody in Galveston yet?

[Corin Stormhands]

Rita's purty, but she's dangerous.

[No Blue States]

I hear you, long drive..especially when they had those cement barriers and only 2 lanes..That was mapquest quotes so it may be shorter as the crow flies.

Click this pic on the left for a Sat loop, Rita rivals any loop I saw for Katrina.

http://www.cira.colostate.edu/ramm/rmsdsol/TROPICAL.html

[Spktyr]

OK... It's your choice as a free citizen, but I still think you should be looking at leaving.

[NTegraT]

Da Nada

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Maybe the NOAA is flying the Aerosonde into this one like they did with Ophelia?

NOAA AND PARTNERS CONDUCT FIRST SUCCESSFUL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT HURRICANE OBSERVATION BY FLYING THROUGH OPHELIA

[No Blue States]

We should send Nagin to Mexico and see if Rita follows.

http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/tx/tx.html

[numberonepal]

What is annular?

From Wikipedia:
Annular hurricanes have a large, symmetric eye surrounded by a ring of intense convection, with hardly any convection (i.e. bands) elsewhere. These types of storms are not prone to fluctuations in intensity related to the eyewall replacement cycles typically seen in intense tropical cyclones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annular_hurricane

[conservativewasp]

I was in Charlotte 6 months after Hugo, the place was still a mess, truck after truck of trees going past. You'd drive down the highway and the forest on both sides was snapped off 30 feet above the ground. Hotels full of out of state linemen.

[numberonepal]

Al Gore knows.

I wish folks wouldn't give the idiot any press. We could do without it.

[Spktyr]

At least get them out of the strike path. I hear El Paso's nice this time of year.... And Texas hotels, for the most part, are providing deep, deep discounts for evacuees.


If they start now, they have more than enough time to collect everyone and get out.

[4everontheRight]

What about Hurricane Boudreaux and Thibodeaux or Comeaux????

[steveegg]

Probably one of the B-teamers (been stuck on TWC all morning).

[JFC]

a hurricane is just a hurricane by any other name.