The 12 hour IR Loop shows a defin weakening of the convection along the entire western portion of the storm. This is good news. Rita is still a powerful category 5 hurricane. The weakening of the convection COULD be an early sign that the storm will start to lose some punch as the day wears on. Hope so at least!
Problem is that the surge lags behind the wind speed. Katrina hit Mississppi as a Cat 3 but still had a Cat 5 storm surge.
To me it's looked as if Rita's beginning to go through an eyewall reforming cycle.
Don't they loose a little ooomph at night and gain it back when the sun is beaming down on the cloud tops?