Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part IV

NHC - NOAA ^ | 22 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous Category 5 Hurricane Rita continues to threaten the Greater Houston Metropolitan area. The forecast track has shifted slightly to the northeast, increasing the risk to Southwest Louisiana, and a significant portion of the oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Texas Governor Perry is urging all coastal residents between Beaumont and Corpus Christi to evacuate as soon as possible.

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
Houston/Galveston/Beaumont/Lake Charles Wx Watches/Warnings
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Louisiana
Hi Res Houston Flood Zone Map Slow load, great detail

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)

KPRC-TV/DT Houston - KPRC-TV/DT Houston - http://mfile.akamai.com/12944/live/reflector:38616.asx
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
Beaumont TX evac Routes
Lake Charles/Southwest LA Evacuation Map
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
KPLC Lake Charles Evac Routes, news
KFDM Beaumont/Port Arthur News, evac info
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 III
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[RoseyT]

Can anyone tell be how wide the eye is? Thanks in advance.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Joe Bastardi's words per my tape:

"3-6am landfall within 25-30 miles of Galveston (either side). Take 45 up to Dallas, that the storm stays within 35 miles of I-45 to Dallas, gets up there Sun. night or Monday. Turns around and comes back SW down I-35 towards San Antonio and down towards Loredo and winds up in S. Texas Mon. or Tues. of next week. Let's see how good that track does. It's going to make a big loop in TX., come in, approx. uses the I-4 corridor off to almost Dallas and then turn around and come back toward the SW."

[Diddle E. Squat]

TXDOT spokesgal:

The plan was to have fuel resupply at rest areas. Trucks aren't making it to rest areas(filling up strandees before they get there.) Gas was donated by 2 oil companies, and TXDOT is having difficulty buying sufficient fuel.

[frankjr]

"There is a link to the Public Advisory at the top of the thread,
and the updates are not in ALL CAPS. Please do not post ALL CAPS
updates. Thanks."

I tried to change the advisory from all CAPS to every other letter to lowercase, but it was taking me too long. Next time I will try every third letter.

[don-o]

The hype is from people who know what they have been hearing on ALL t.v. staions and radio for over a week

are stuck on stupid.

[Eaker]

My kids were taught early that a side arm is what you use to fight yer way back to the rifle that you forgot.

Two guns each is the minimum at the Eaker Compound!

[WxMan2000]

Category "M" on the vortex message reads 'C17'...meaning the the eye is circular in shape with a diameter of 17 nautical miles (which is about 19.5 statute miles).

[bwteim]

Bastardi is as good as most, IMO. The more TV time he gets, the more he emotes, but that is part of the reason he gets invited.

He describes these storms as cork in an ocean, and that is as good a mental image for me to work with as other descriptions of atmospheric phenomena.

Meanwhile, a guy on Fox - Peter Cordani- is saying he needs 10 747s to fly a super absorbent gel into Rita.... it will slow it down by 15 mph...

[hispanarepublicana]

The plan was to have fuel resupply at rest areas. Trucks aren't making it to rest areas(filling up strandees before they get there.) Gas was donated by 2 oil companies, and TXDOT is having difficulty buying sufficient fuel.

Superdome Redux?

[NautiNurse]

Safe travels. I hope you have internet access at your destination. You are in our prayers. Godspeed.

Please check in when you get a chance.

[bwteim]

Paste what you grab into Word or a text editor, then convert to lower case, then convert to sentence case, do a little editing, and then paste into FR.

[dfwgator]

Bastardi is as good as most, IMO.

He's the James Cramer of meteorologists.

[NautiNurse]

Next time I will try every third letter.

That takes so much longer than using the link at the top of the thread. Whatever floats your boat...

[james_f_hall]

That's a bunch of BS. 10 747s of super absorbent gel aint going to slow it down by anything measurable. The energy of this storm is equivalent to over 15 hiroshimas per second.

[Temple Owl]

That sounds like our house.

[ruoflaw]

you might want to go to the Coleman.com site and see what it says about using it in the house.

[WxMan2000]

Not good news at all. But I suspect NHC will lower the winds a tad on the next advisory anyway, because the recon hasn't found anything above 133 knots this PM. That's how they work.

[Jrabbit]

Looks like everything didn't go perfectly......therefore, huge failure. We're all doomed.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

And what exactly does that represent?

[SE Mom]

WOW...that's an interesting forecast. Thanks for taking the time to record and transcribe:)