Tropical Storm Rita Live Thread

NHC - NOAA ^ | 18 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Tropical Storm Rita has developed from TD 18 in the Atlantic Ocean. TS Rita is currently located north of Hispaniola, the eastern tip of Cuba, and ESE of Nassau, Bahamas. Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect for portions of Florida. Check for local weather statements.

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
Forecast Models
Buoy Data SE Florida
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Florida

Images:

Storm Floater IR Loop
Visible Storm Floater Still (only visible during daylight hours)
Color Enhanced Atlantic Loop
Florida Radar/Sat Loop Caution: Broadband users only!
Miami Long Range Radar Loop
Key West Long Range Radar Loop
Miami Experimental Radar Still Image
Key West Experimental Radar Still Image

Streaming Video: (coverage may be intermittent)
WFOR-TV/DT Miami (WMP) - http://dayport.wm.llnwd.net/dayport_0025_live"
WSVN-TV/DT Miami (WMP) - mms://216.242.118.141/broadband

Other Resources:

Florida East Coast Surf Reports Lots of great info here, including surf cams
Central Florida Hurricane Center
Hurricane City

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

[Miztiki]

What are the chances that Rita will actually hit where they predict this far out? Isn't it actually a good sign that she's pointing to me now? Doesn't that mean she will likely point at someone else by the time she gets over this way?

[hobson]

^O||||||^O

I'm partial to Jeeps, you can park at my place.

[Lanza]

My Mom was in Pasadena and did fine during Alicia except for some roof damage. She never even lost electric, and we were hammered in Houston proper (Hwy 59/Hilcroft back then).

[Lanza]

I think you are right. These things never seem to go where predicted this far out.

How bad would Pearland get? We could go stay with our friends there.

[AntiGuv]

Fortunately I've been well inland for all the hurricanes I've seen, but I do have this strange desire to ride out a Cat 5 hurricane on the beach in one of those round, concrete 'hurricane-proof' houses. =)

Then again, the record high hurricane surge ever recorded was 42ft..

[No Blue States]

The NHC was very close with Katrina 3 days out. My opinion is the 3 day NHC forecasted track can be counted upon more than any other source Ive found. Katrina:

[Dog Gone]

The weather pattern that will guide Rita to landfall isn't particularly complicated, so the 5-day forecast might be more reliable than usual.

But if Rita speeds up or slows down as it moves across the Gulf, then that could change the eventual landfall dramatically. Of course, our good news is someone else's bad news, so we'd have to temper our roars of approval.

[Flyer]

^O||||||^O Jeep Jeep!

My side of town survived Allison, but if things turned for the worse I would definitely be looking for higher ground.

'92 XJ 2WD

[LA Woman3]

Nagin has delayed his press conference.....it will now be held at either 3:00 or 3:30. Glad to see he is still consistently indecisive.

[janetjanet998]

URGENT...Hurricane RITA may be Katrina part 2..Keys in Trouble... Buy gas now

Posted on 09/19/2005 12:10:40 PM PDT by janetjanet998

system rapidly exploding now....huge storm area wise...will likley be a high end Cat 3 when it hits the lower Keys...then a Cat 4 in the gulf later and it turns north towards the huge oil fields off the Texas/LA coasts...may not hit New orleans directly but models are shifting closer each run and they are now in the "cone"...may get at least some storm surge into the lake and heavy rain there...not good with weakened levee and parts of the city still flooded http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1487450/posts

[hobson]

^O||||||^O Jeep Jeep!

'01 Wrangler 4WD

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

Cute

[BigSkyFreeper]

URGENT...Hurricane RITA may be Katrina part 2..Keys in Trouble... Buy gas now

The last thing you want to do is panic and cause a gas shortage.

[mict42]

Maybe he can go get everybody in his buses. Then he turn right around and send them back out ahead of Rita.

[No Blue States]

humor break:

Rita looks like another case where we will be waiting and watching for that predicted northern turn as with Katrina.

[LA Woman3]

Thanks, (I guess!) for the information.

[Orange1998]

Time to get the dome ready for Rita.

[LikeLight]

Whenever I am told by anyone not to panic and not to rush out to buy gas, my internal bs meter tells me to panic and rush out to buy gas.

[No Blue States]

"Time to get the dome ready for Rita."

I bet many wont go there after what happened at the Superdome. But I agree, get ready now.

[Types_with_Fist]

Time to get the dome ready for Rita.

You have a twisted sense of humor...:-) LOL!