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

[eastforker]

I live in Houston and everyone in authority has been preaching evacuation for days, what he said was BS.

[Cboldt]

Water heater and furnace vent the flue gas. Range top doesn't, but is usually close to a kitchen vent anyway, and for cooking, the mass of gas burned v. the volume of a kitchen poses no risk of CO poisoning.

[Abigail Adams]

By the way, MN took a lickin' last night. Big ol' storm. F-2 tornado. Some suburbs will be without power for nearly a week. The worst of it was just a bit north of us. But it was the scariest storm we've been through. One tree split a few houses down from us. You can read about the excitement here:

http://www.startribune.com/

[EX52D]

Great news! :)

[LA Woman3]

It is going to be fine here (Baton Rouge)....
After all the LSU vs. Tennessee game is still scheduled for tomorrow night!! /sarc.

[burzum]

isn't 913 MB REALLY low for only 145 MPH?

Perhaps. If I were in the Gulf area I would be more worried about the barometric pressure than the wind speed. If I recall correctly, the storm surge is almost entirely due to the low pressure in a hurricane (though I could be wrong). Obviously there is a relation between wind speed and barometric pressure, but since a hurricane is a very complex beast, it is a very complex relation. I'm paying attention to the pressure which indicates that a Cat 5 storm surge is heading towards Texas.

[Temple Owl]

Let's ask John Jamieson. What do you think John?

[Michael Goldsberry]

calibrate the barometer?

I have no idea how to do that. I'll just read the thing and report what it says. How far off can it be?

Besides, this thing was Grandpa's... (That means it's one tough SOB!)

Heh...

[steveegg]

Ouch. Don't you have any good news?

[tx_eggman]

He had a point- automatics have all sorts of different safeties, but wheel-guns? You grab and fire.

Spktyr:One word: Glock.

Ding, ding, ding ... we have a winner ... Don Pardo, tell Spktyr what he's won

[jeffers]

New graphic, based on the 1700 CDT data:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y138/jeffers_mz/02J.jpg

[RDTF]

[Zacs Mom]

I had to chuckle - hubby said that at one he really needed to 'take a whiz' and there was no place to stop .... a stretch of that those good ol' Texas wide open spaces .... anyway, he finally pulled over to the side of the road and told his aunt he was going to go do some business behind that tree over yonder.

She said, "Fine, I'm going to use that one over there!"

rotfl...........this is a 94 year old woman and she just troops off to the bushes and does her business! (and in broad daylight, mind you!)

[steveegg]

The green is NY Times stock. The red is the S&P. The blue is the DJIA.

ROFL

[bwteim]

52kb.... awful thin ice;)

[realpatriot]

I have a propane refrigerator and it is unvented. It is GREAT for times like these. I don't worry about it, but to keep the peace, I have two CO alarms in the area! (They have never alarmed)

[Wneighbor]

The secondary roads are bumper to bumper too according to my brother who lives near a few.

And I'm 180 miles NW of Houston on one of those smaller highways that runs straight into the Houston area. Traffic has been bumper to bumper since I got out at 8:30 this morning. Don't think these highways are much better than the interstate.

Although - our gas is relatively cheap.

[eastforker]

Untill it jams, if you can cock it you can fire it, nufff said.

[Howlin]

and she retains here annular form, she'll be officially recognized as being an annular hurricane

I knew it!

[greyfoxx39]

I lived in Waco from '92-97. my mother and brother are still there. I have been a little worried about local flooding and tornadoes in that area.