Does this put Galveston back in play?
To a degree, yes, but what it means more is that there will be no unusually sharp turn taking the storm into central LA; a hit that would put Galveston on the right side of the storm is very unlikely, however.
000 URNT12 KNHC 222338 VORTEX DATA MESSAGE A. 22/23:28:50Z B. 26 deg 01 min N 089 deg 49 min W C. 700 mb 2346 m D. NA kt E. NA deg nm F. 132 deg 125 kt G. 047 deg 024 nm H. 913 mb I. 11 C/ 3052 m J. 18 C/ 3050 m K. 15 C/ NA L. OPEN NE-SE M. CO16/35 N. 12345/ 7 O. 0.02 / 1 nm P. AF306 WX18A RITA01 OB 16 MAX FL WIND 125 KT NE QUAD 23:21:20 Z OUTER EYEWALL SMALL OPENING W
Other significant changes -
- Movement 3 minutes north, 10 minutes west (more of a westward jog than previously)
- Both inner (NE-to-SE) and outer (small W) now open (previously, only the inner was open to the east
- Concentric eyes 16 nm and 35 nm wide (was 14 nm and 35 nm last time through)
The mayor of Galveston was just on with O'Reilly and the weather guy. They both said Galveston will not be the same after the storm hits. Mayor said that they just built a bunch of homes and condos only 150 feet from the water and that there are no sand dunes between for protection. He looked very worried. He made it sound like Galveston is very much in play for a direct hit.