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Locked on 09/22/2005 3:40:46 AM PDT by Jim Robinson, reason:
New thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1489163/posts |
Posted on 09/21/2005 4:19:11 PM PDT by NautiNurse
Extremely dangerous and large Category Five Hurricane Rita is churning westward across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas. Air Force Reconnaissance indicated the central pressure has dropped to 904mb, making Rita the fifth most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin.
Hurricane and Tropical Storm Watches have been issued from Northern Mexico through the South Louisiana coastline. Galveston TX used school buses to evacuate residents. Mandatory and voluntary evacuations are in effect along the Texas coastline.
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 Western Gulf of Mexico
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Louisiana
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
Streaming Video: (coverage may be intermittent)
KHOU-TV/DT Houston: mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_khou
WWLTV NOLA
Additional Resources:
FReeper Sign In Thread Check in to let us know whether you are staying, going, and when you get there
FReepers Offering Lodging To Rita Evacuees People and/or Pet Friendly FReepers Offering Shelter
Coastal TX Evacuation Maps
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
Hurricane City
Wxnation Houston
Galveston Webcams
Golden Triangle Weather Page Provides Galveston Weather, Warnings, Radar, etc.
| 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 II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18
Very scary!
20-foot wall of water
More devastation would be caused by winds blowing over the Gulf of Mexico and pushing surface water inland -- creating up to a 20-foot storm surge. Such a wall of water would swamp most development near Galveston Bay, including Texas City, Kemah and Johnson Space Center. Varying levels of water would flood much of the area between Sam Houston Parkway and the bay.
On Galveston Island, the seawall could hold back much of the storm surge, but at some point the water would creep onto the island from the bay side. The island's highest point is just 22 feet above sea level.
Much like a river becomes deeper and more turbulent when it narrows, a storm surge also can increase in height and intensity when its source of water narrows. Dodson said this has profound implications for the Port of Houston. Some models ended with a 30-foot wall of water in the Ship Channel near the port's turning basin, he said. "It would be huge," he said. "It could overwhelm chemical storage facilities, water treatment plants and other sensitive areas."
The port's severe-weather plan calls for most cargo ships to exit the facility and weather the storm at sea in preparation for the possibility of flooded buildings.
My experience is that it does. After Ivan, we had power back in less than two days. After Katrina, we were out for a week and Ivan hit us harder than Katrina. I heard someone say that the crews that would normally respond to our needs were drawn to south Florida to fix Katrina damage there.
Citizens of Seabrook Texas, ABANDON ALL HOPE!
Jim Cantore has set up a live remote near 146 and the boardwalk.
Favorable means a stronger storm, yes, but keep in mind that the storm itself is unfavorable (i.e., another hurricane is not going to form inside Rita ;^). What you're seeing along the Texas coast in 72 hours is the back end of Rita. What you want to look at is the surrounding edges.
14 evacuees unconscience on nursing bus due to carbon monoxide poisioning on 146 near Lufkin
Nice pup. Stay safe so we can see you in the NASCAR thread Sunday (assuming you have power and Net access).
Saw your earlier post about withdrawal from FR and I am looking at maybe 4 days w/o FR (going to Denver and no internet) and it is going to be hard to do.
I think the cane will come in as a cat 3 and head east. JMO but will be praying for it.
Able Danger will die on the vine. MSM doesn't cover it, not a word from Rush.
Keep up the coverage on Rita, daughter has a place in Azle that she's trying to sell, it may have problems. Take care.
Oops...I'll bet General Honore isn't happy with that typo. I wonder if another 18 NOLA residents left on one of the 200 buses with that faulty info.
Roads around Dickinson will be under water by Friday night(the rain will start Fri morning), and all the ship channel bridges will be closed due to high winds, forcing all remaining traffic further west to already clogged roads. The storm surge may have already reached I-45 before dark, even if the projected landfall stays miles west of Freeport(though it moved east to almost Freeport at the last report.) I strongly, strongly recommend getting out of Dickinson tomorrow.
That's Jungle Jim Cantore, and once Rita gets closer, you best be at least as far inland as he is :-)
One of the odd effects of categorization is that some people see the category, but do not look at the relative strength of the storm. Some think a drop in category automatically translates into a magnitude drop in strength; as if a one mph drop from cat 5 to 4 will make a difference in the survivability.
I don't understand the thinking there.
Katrina took very long periods for her ERC.
But, didn't weaken her much.
Working to make the world safer ya slacker.....saved 30 million people today !
All republicans BTW !.....:o)
2 to 4 inches is still bad news for New Orlean. I've heard that 3 inches of rain could equal 4 feet of water in the city.
So, by example, in the 24 hour and 36 hour forecast what's important is that red strip between the Texas coast and the red/green zone of Rita. That means no wind shear to speak of - extremely favorable to hurricane intensity.
Safe travels, and Godspeed. Please check back in as soon as you can.
That's 3 corrections in the last 4 hours if my memory isn't completely gone. Once General Honore is done with NOLA, we'll need him to straighten out the NHC.
Have not seen Dog Gone post in a while either. I hope he will let us know if he is staying or going.
Waiting for the next model (track) to run. Lotsa uncertainty this late in the game.
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