Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VI

NHC - NOAA ^ | 23 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Dangerous Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall in the northeast Gulf of Mexico within 24 hours. Tornados have spawned in Louisiana. Water is filling the Ninth Ward of New Orleans again. A bus carrying elderly evacuees was gutted by fire this morning outside Dallas, with multiple fatalities. Television crews have positioned their hurricane reporters throughout the region to attain maximum drama effects. Whoooooa.

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
Jefferson Co TX NWS Weather
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:

Lake Charles Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Lake Charles Experimental Radar Outages and Delays May Occur

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)

KHOU-TV/DT Houston
KPRC-TV/DT Houston
KTRK-TV/DT Houston
KTRH-AM Houston
KPLC-TV/DT Lake Charles/Lafayette
KSLA-TV/DT Shreveport

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
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 V
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part III
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[conservative in nyc]

Flood Gages for SW Louisiana Parishes:

http://tinyurl.com/ey5jf

Parishes included:
Acadia (E of Lake Charles, W of Lafayette)
Calcasieu (Lake Charles)
Cameron (Coastal - S of Lake Charles)
Iberia (Coastal - New Iberia, S of Lafayette)
Jefferson Davis (E of Lake Charles)
St Mary (Coastal - Morgan City)
Terrebonne (Coastal - Houma)
Vermilion (Coastal - S of Lafayette)

[Brad’s Gramma]

, do not want to be driving at night or in hurricane force winds.

Good thinkin'! ;)

[JFC]

You think Nagin bought in Highland Park??


I heard Frisco...

Isn't that the yuppie HP?

[truthandlife]

(Bill White) He is Democrat.. but he sure doesn't act like it.

Except programs like this:

It's safe to say that (Bill White's)Safe Clear sparks wide range of concerns

[johnb838]

No, I think the evac is over. Somebody was asking Mayor White when the evacuees could come back. I could have sworn he was going to tell him he was stuck on stupid.

[Robert A Cook PE]

And the usual range for Aransas Pass in 1.5' = 18", so actually, the end of the ship channel would be a bit less.

A concern, if it's your business that is getting the extra 6" of water at high tide + hurricane surge, but less than the extreme ranges up towards Nova Scotia and the NE.

[John Jamieson]

SB Fubar-Nagin

[johnb838]

They are opening local emergency shelters locally now.

[silentknight]

Cat 3/4 Rita this afternoon...

http://www.usawx.com/430pmritasept23rfpy.jpg

[LA Woman3]

Yes, it is a nice area....good schools, shopping, and low crime. Quite a contrast to New Orleans.

[texsean]

The Mayor of Houston is from which party?

---

Technically he is nonpartisan. That's how they run mayoral elections around here. But he is a Democrat. I voted for the other guy, Orlando Sanchez whom 41 endorsed, but Bill White has done a fine job especially when compared to his bumbling predecessor, Lee Brown.

[steveegg]

Fresh vortex data message (eye fix 3:31 pm CDT; last was 2:11 pm) - pressure up 1 mb to 931 mb, max flight-level winds down 5 knots to 124 knots in NE quad -

VORTEX DATA MESSAGE
A. 23/2031Z
B. 28 DEG 09 MIN N
   92 DEG 37 MIN W
C. 700 MB 2493 MA
D. NA
E. NA
F. 289 DEG 91 KT
G. 197 DEG 15 NM
H. 931 MB
I. 14 C/ 3055 M
J. 20 C/ 3056 M
K. 15 C/ NA
L. OPEN SOUTH
M. C25
N. 12345/7
O. 1/1 NM
P. NOAA3 2318A RITA OB 20
   MAX FL WIND 124 KT NE QUAD 2037Z
   EYE OPEN E THRU W

Other significant changes -

- Movement 11 minutes north, 9 minutes west
- Eye 25 nm wide (up from 20 nm last time), open east through south through west (was open east through southeast)

[freema]

You might need a lil' more than just mosquito spray...
they've got the a/c running though, right?

[Jrabbit]

lol

Ok, thanks. Fox keeps showing a pic of lined up cars. Must be from earlier....

[hummingbird]

Hmmmm...I thought she called him "Bushie."

Obviously, National Enquirer was misled and overpaid their source this time! LOL!!!

[MamaTexan]

Fox saying officials say the entire city of Port Arthur

There's a special on Rita on channel 42 that said the same thing.

Geez! 18 to 22 foot surge!!!!

[Deaf Smith]

"Highland Park??"

His first choice was Hutchins 'cuase it was in the news so much this Summer. He thought more publicity was a good sign.

[SouthTexas]

I'm used to the replay, I'm NEVER off on Friday afternoon.LOL

[Tall_Texan]

Actually, it's the Austin City Limits (ACL) music concert. South by Southwest (SXSW) happens in March.

[umbagi]

Just hear a rumor that there was no gas to be found east of Big Spring, TX all the way to Dallas. Any truth to this?

We drove to Kerrville yesterday, and there were no lines or out-of-line prices twixt here and there. A sign outside one Chevron station in Fredericksburg advertised Regular Unleaded for $1.96. We refilled when we returned to Austin, about midnight, without any problem.

We saw little traffic in either direction on 290, and trailer parks in Kerrville had RV spaces available.