Hurricane Rita Live Thread

NHC - NOAA ^ | 20 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Hurricane Rita is in the Florida Straits, impacting the Florida Keys and South Florida Peninsula. Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect for numerous portions of South Florida. Check local weather statements for updates.

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 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
Extra Large Miami Radar Broadband only
Extra Large Key West Radar Broadband 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)

WTVJ-TV/DT Miami (NBC6)
WFOR-TV/DT Miami (CBS 4)
WSVN-TV/DT Miami (Fox)

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

Previous Threads:
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[Miztiki]

It looks like I'm leaving in the morning. I'll just go up to Michigan where all of my family is.

[hummingbird]

Someone may try to reign him in because you know it has to piss off the media.

Media needs a good pissing off...whoever tries to reign in Honore should get a blast of 'are you stuck on stupid?!' That would be awesome! Heh, heh, heh....

[nomorelurker]

Surfside is small RV Park in Port A proper. Pioneer is South on 361 4-5 miles outside of City still in city limits however.

[texas_brewer]

If you are on the south side of town plan on going north. But I'd wait a day and see where it's going. I am in the woodlands and plan on staying, just mostly worried about the big pine trees falling.

[nwctwx]

Dennis was a big storm... it set the precedent for the future GOM storms we have seen. Luckily, storms recurving in the gulf often lose strength. If it wasn't for that turn to the NE, we might have had another major problem with it.

We still have a few more years of this cycle in all likelihood... I guess we need to get used to it in the short term.

[raygun]

Frankly, right now I'm with GFS and a Port Austin landfall on this. Why? I've always liked GFS over the water, but go with NGP on land. I especially like NGP for systems that come out they LA bayou, that end up clobbering us with 18" of snow).

[Flyer]

in Ft Bend County (The Meadows)

I'm just a couple of miles or so east of you down W. Airport. I'll be here.

[WoodstockCat]

Elena Track

[dogbyte12]

Anybody on the south side of the cone, even in the Brownsville area, should get themselves ready here. I was about 70 miles to the west side of Katrina, on the "good side" of the storm, and we still had alot of trees down all over the place. No sense in risking it, especially if you live in an area that could turn into a debris javelin field.

[ken5050]

Tanks..that was it..You know..as bad as the mess in NOLA is.. I always thought that at Cat 5..heading NE out of the GUlf..dead aim on Tampa Bay..would be worse..

[ken5050]

Thanks..that was it..You know..as bad as the mess in NOLA is.. I always thought that at Cat 5..heading NE out of the GUlf..dead aim on Tampa Bay..would be worse..

[RDTF]

I just stocked up on white wine - and I'm in DC! Seems like I'm gonna need it over the next few days watching this nerve racking thing.

[Vermonter]

But... he's in prime time now and needs some fresh material...:-)

I suspect the only one that could get him to change his material would be GW, and he's probably laughing his butt off at Honore's performance ;-}

[ken5050]

Thanks..wow....

[Flyer]

If you stay, you have a large Mutual Aid pact to help if you need it.

[abb]

Louisiana Freepers note - WWL TV is now simulcasting on Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

[SaveTheChief]

I live off of Sawdust and am contemplating getting out of town. I'm not so much concerned about winds as I am with losing power and services for a week. But if this thing turns out to hit us directly as a Category 4 storm, there will be no question about my leaving. Any thoughts?

[Nita Nupress]

What kind of damage would, say a Cat 4, do to Houston homes if Rita hit the coast closest to it and came through Houston?

You may not get many answers to that question -- it's just depressing (or distressing) to think about. It would be bad. Perhaps very bad, especially if Houston was on the NE quandrant of the hit. The storm surge would go straight up the Houston ship channel.

I was in a hospital all day today, just sitting back listening to all the necessary preparations they have to make in order to evacuate all the patients. This was a relatively small mental hospital, so that was nothing compared to what a major medical facility has to do. And when I think of all the hospitals in the Texas medical center complex in Houston, it just makes me dizzy. What a mess.

[eyedigress]

The latest from NHC....(Mega-Data)

http://www.crownweather.com/tropical.html


Latest RADAR...17:49 EDT

http://www.intellicast.com/Local/USLocalWide.asp?loc=keyw&seg=LocalWeather&prodgrp=RadarImagery&product=RegionalRadarLoop&prodnav=none

[nwctwx]

970mb now

---

916
URNT12 KNHC 202150
VORTEX DATA MESSAGE
A. 20/21:25:20Z
B. 23 deg 55 min N
082 deg 11 min W
C. 700 mb 2853 m
D. 080 kt
E. 38 deg 025 nm
F. 126 deg 088 kt
G. 038 deg 025 nm
H. 970 mb
I. 11 C/ 3048 m
J. 15 C/ 3043 m
K. 9 C/ NA
L. OPEN NE
M. C32
N. 12345/ 7
O. 0.02 / 1 nm
P. AF302 1218A RITA OB 09
MAX FL WIND 89 KT NW QUAD 20:00:50 Z
MAX FL TEMP 16 C, 36 / 19NM