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

[steveegg]

What is their SOLUTION for that? How would THEY make it work better?

You don't want to know.... </humor_weak_attempt>

[BurbankKarl]

Max Mayfield on ABC 13...

[mathluv]

Someone will be on the mainland - with authority to do something if needed.

[greyfoxx39]

What a nice offer! I sure will contact you when things head your way. Thanks!

[dawn53]

Whoa baby! Talk about multitasking...that's quite the link.

[BurbankKarl]

Max says 25 inches of rain in Eastern Tx, Western La. by Sunday.

[RoseofTexas]

"Aside from the obvious difference between the cold core high over Mexico"

So in other words to tame this babe, she needs cold water thrown on her...hmmmm! I heard on the WC that what's slowing her up is the High Pressure from Texas, unfortunately the HP is suppose to recede backwards towards the south into NM by tomorrow! Once the HP reverses track RITA will hit with a vengeance inland!

[abb]

traffic on I-10 eastbound @ Lake charles moving fairly well....maybe congestion beginning to break up.

[fishntex]

This link is a little longer at 12 hours.

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/satellite/displaySat.php?region=GOM&itype=vis&size=large&endDate=20050922&endTime=-1&duration=12


I have been hearing that the eye wall replacement cycle causes it to wobble and that it is very unpredictable what it will do until it stops. The above link appears to show the eyewall rebuilding but you can easily see that it was in a replacement cycle all day today. The eye was full of clouds most all day but it looks to be clearing out in the last few frames.

[fanfan]

Revel, you sir, need to join the undead thread.

We could use that kind of thinking.

Well done.

[hummingbird]

Cool photos on your page!

[eastforker]

Your life, your preferance, I will take a revolver anytime over an semi.

[steveegg]

The folks in Lake Charles are smarter than Nagin and company in NOLA - How to evacuate (Lake Charles) if you have no transportation. They'll be running buses around the city at 7 am tomorrow to pick up people who can't make it to the Civic Center to catch buses out of town there.

[rwfromkansas]

wobbling to the west and even slightly south now....looks like perhaps the NHC track will come to pass.

[meyer]

What is their SOLUTION for that? How would THEY make it work better?

Now imaging trying to evacuate New York or Los Angeles - both with even larger populations and higher density.

[Arizona Carolyn]

The earthquakes outside Palm Springs shook the south side of town... we were visiting here back in the early 90's when the quake hit in the San Bernardino Mountains (Big Bear)... shook pretty hard... and the quake in Joshua Tree about 7 or 8 years ago that shook up Vegas, shook very strong here. We don't feel the quakes down in the LA basin... but if, as they suspect, a new volcano is forming between Palm Springs and San Diego, we'd definitely feel anything from that.

[Mo1]

What is their SOLUTION for that? How would THEY make it work better?

Blink their eyes like in the TV show, I Dream of Genie??

[fanfan]

Yup!

Brains and beauty!!!

Gotta love Conservative women!

[mewzilla]

Max says 25 inches of rain in Eastern Tx, Western La. by Sunday.

Holy cats. What's she gonna do, sit there and spin?

[Arizona Carolyn]

That one I knew about