Yep, and it lasts a lot longer than any tornado. Now, for some not-so-good news from Weather Underground's Steve Gregory - Rita is in the middle of an eyewall replacement cycle. Hurricanes tend to pick back up after completing this.
seeker41 checking in from inner loop 610 area (Houston Heights). You cannot get out of this city right now, I had intentions of sneaking out early (before sunup) and going 36 north to Abilene, but that has become an evac route. I am not about to get on a Freeway here!
So I'll be here riding out the storm, thank god it's moving more NE now. I'll update later as things begin to change.
"Beyond the issue of the actual landfall point -- for the past 2 days, the global models have been forecasting the re-development/intensification of the high pressure ridge over the central U.S. -- and then expands it towards the Gulf coast. What this means, is that after Rita moves inland Saturday morning, it will gradually slow down, then stall out over west central Louisiana - and then is forecast to drift SOUTHWESTWARD towards Houston by Monday. This type of motion would lead to extreme rainfall totals across much of Louisiana and the east-southeast areas of Texas following landfall. Tremendous, life threatening flooding could result from portions of Louisiana southwestward to the Houston area. Storm rainfall totals could easily exceed 20" in some locations."