Latest Recon Indicates Rita is a CAT 5 Hurricane

Accuweather ^

[jmc1969]

The latest recon report indicated the pressure in Rita has fallen to 920 mb and the maximum flight level winds were over 175 mph. AccuWeather.com Meteorologist believe Rita has become a Cat 5 hurricane.

[Lazamataz]

Well, fine, we don't have old data -- what's it been doing in relation to the last few years?

[PaulaB]

Mike..what do you think

we will get here in Dallas?

I'm getting a little skittish about it

I know it spawns tornadoes usually

but if this beast hits as is..what are you thoughts

for us up here?

[NormsRevenge]

I'm sure the meteorologist who assembled this site will be updating the list with both Katrina and Rita and others when the season is thru.

She's probably busy with the current seasonal event right now. ;-)

[nevergore]

I put the "EE" in "GEEK"....

NeverGore :^)

[malakhi]

Didn't Katrina make the list as well....912, maybe?

Katrina's lowest recorded pressure was 904mb.

[Sometimes A River]

I think Andrew was high 800's.

My joints hurt when he came through.

[malakhi]

I had heard that it was a Category 5, which it was when over the Gulf

Yes, it was. At its peak, Katrina had top sustained winds of 175 mph.

[TravisBickle]

And I would guess by the pictures from Katrina that wind speed is not the only source of damage.

[hiredhand]

Thanks! MamaB also told me about http://www.khou.com.

[syriacus]

My husband has been pointing out for years that the we get the clearest skies up here on Long Island when a hurricane is down South.

Interesting website here.Canadian Hurricane Center - all about hurricanes

also Canadian Hurricane Center-- Lots of statistics.

[Tennessee_Bob]

[el_texicano]

Yeah, there's the storm surge which was estimated from 24 to 29 feet. That swept inland anything that wasn't nailed totally down, but then in some cases it didn't make any difference..

[loreldan]

SSSHHH!!! Don't tell anybody our secret.

For all of you out-of-staters: Colorado has catastrophic avalanches every 5 minutes or so. If they don't get you, the blizzards will. And Ward Churchill is the governor of Colorado.

[myprecious]

I had heard that it was a Category 5, which it was when over the Gulf, but apparently it weakened before making landfall.

Katrina probably weakened from a 4 to a 5 when she touched the cooler waters from the Mississipi River. You can see the river delta sediment that goes out and dumps a bunch of fresh cool water into the Gulf. That caused her to shiver and wobble at the last minute and the winds dropped a little. There was not enough time for the massive storm surge to ease, so the wall of water kept coming.

There are no such large rivers dumping into the Texas Gulf. It is hot tub warm all the way to landfall. Rita has nothing in her way until ground zero.

[cgk]

I had the same question about pressure recently. I read that pressure defines the intensity of the storm. I had thought wind speed was enough of a determining factor! 155- 185mph sounds pretty intense to me ;).

Apparently Hurricane Gilbert had a minimum pressure reading of 888 at its peak intensity, though the lowest observed to strike the U.S. was the 1935 Labor Day (FL keys) hurricane with a pressure reading of 892. Hurricane Andrew was 922, and Katrina was 918 at landfall (according to Wikipedia), though its lowest recorded was 902. Ivan at one time had 910. Though if you read different sources, these numbers can often vary!

And this beast Rita still has 2 days to go unless it speeds up, so the pressure could drop again, or we could see it weaken as others have before making landfall.

[Red Badger]

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/sun_output_030320.html

This will help............

[BedRock]

Nagin is an idiot...

[rodguy911]

Water temps are probably similar to what they were off the Keys 85 and 86 I as so sick of that dam storm I never want to see another one, we almost got sea water in my garage yesterday.

[massgopguy]

Why don't you just make ten louder?

[clintonh8r]

I agree...Rita needs a little Mexican vacation.