Or the relationship between pressure and wind speed needs to be rethought. Rita has had consistently weaker winds than the pressure/satellite would suggest. While the 913 mb from the AF flight was actually an extrapolation, it was backed up by a NOAA flight that did measure 913 mb (and 133-knot flight-level winds in the NW quad) about 2:10 pm.
This same thing happened with Katrina... pressure at landfall should have equated to Cat 5 winds.... this also occurred when pressures were 902mb and wind speed should have been higher. Maybe for larger storms such as these, the rules get bent a bit.
She is a bigger storm, so winds won't quite be as high as in a tight storm with the same pressure.
She looks better than earlier today on sat.
I don't believe that there is an exact correlation between pressure and wind speed. Difference in pressure causes wind as air moves from high pressure to low, and it can generally be said that the lower the pressure in the center of the hurricane, the higher the wind speed. But I would think that all you can get from a center pressure reading is an approximate wind speed range.
I don't believe that there is an exact correlation between pressure and wind speed. Difference in pressure causes wind as air moves from high pressure to low, and it can generally be said that the lower the pressure in the center of the hurricane, the higher the wind speed. But I would think that all you can get from a center pressure reading is an approximate wind speed range.