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Posted on 09/20/2005 6:16:38 AM PDT by 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
They started moving the big ships out of N.O. last night. Can't risk getting trapped in port during a big storm. Safer for them out at sea.
Unless he's trying to get in! ;-)
I don't understand why they would move IN FRONT of Rita?
Looking at the radar, I suspect I sighed in relief too soon. We are in for some ugly weather for the next few hours. I just hope the lights stay on. The frog either drowned or has wisely hopped for cover. Poor guy.
I haven't been predicting such a landing -- but I've been "thinking" Rita might follow Kat's path. In fact, I just got my battery powered colored TV today, so if my power goes this time, I'll have local channe;s.
US Hwy 281. I know that area very well. As a kid, our family lived in Hollywood Park. Back then the whole area was nothing but wilderness & I loved to go exploring. Hwy 281 used to be a 2 lane highway, too.
Yall see any of the lefties on the coast fanning this thing to south texas?
There are thousands of US troops in NO living in tents....no one is talking about that...it takes awhile to pull up stakes and move out..
But Drudge posted Nagin had ordered evacuation. Figures. Rita is forecast to hit Texas, and Nagin orders evac. Rita changes course toward NO, and Nagin cancels evac.
Someone yesterday suggested putting water in zip lock bags and freezing them. I'm gonna give it a try.
Ya almost got it right.
When the water condenses, the heat goes somewhere, i.e., into the air as kinetic energy. This translates to velocity. When a parcel of air moves, it creates low pressure in the area it previously occupied. Nature abhors a vacume. Air rushes in to replace the air that was kinetically moved through the energy of condensation release.
The air that was caused to gain energy, and thereby move, rises and cools adiabatically. Once it is as cool as the surrounding air it ceases its motion.
However, the air that moved into the vacume left in its wake has momentum, and will run into the air preceeding it, compressing it, possibly causing additional condensation, and pushing it higher. This is how supercooled water comes into existance at upper levels of the atmosphere. Think of it akin to a succession of train-wrecks vertically into the atmosphere. Eventually there's a column of air stacked up, that is denser than the surrounding air, this should normally come crashing back down to the ground. That is what happens in a normal thunderstorm.
If there's sufficient energy in the intialial convection, and there's enough humid air ruhing in to replace it, this train wreck can stack up all the way to the tropopause. At sea level this is about 65k feet in the summer time. If there's sufficient momentum pushing behind the air at the tropopause, the column of air will punch through this inherent stabilizing layer, right into the stable, sleepy stratosphere. An extra 20k feet can be gained this way, cloud tops to 80k. But that's about it, and then that air is going to bone dry, and shoot back down to the ground, heating adiabatically all the way (5.5deg/1000' down, as opposed to cooling at 3.2deg/1000' up).
However, if at the 200mb there is a dome of high pressure, squashing down on the rising column of cyclonic upflow, it will direct the rising column of air outwards - defeating the natural tendancy of a thunderstorm from decaying. As the air gets sucked out from the center of the storm (due to the influence of the decending outflow high pressure cap), the pressure drops, air velocity rises, more air rushes in to replace the vacated air. A process known as the venturi affect kicks in. The storm draws in its arms like a skater spinning, and begins to rotate faster. The net result: 60 mile wide F1 or F2 tornado.
The decreased pressure in the center actually sucks up the sea surface as much as 20' for an area of about 10 to 15 miles in diameter. Add 50' waves on top of that as the sea floor rises and the water gets shallower and the waves begin to break, that's what you get.
Not funny.
Sounds like I better make it a point to go to HEB after work today. I hope I aint too late.
And if it is anythink like what they had in PA, there's plenty of that open area! Like I said, was just wondering. :)
He wants you to kiss him. Do you need a prince?
That's a great idea. Should you lose power, they will help keep items in your freezer cool, as well as being a source of clean water at some point.
I guess we could probably search the Katrina threads to find out for sure. I thought it was the GFDL. I recall it pointing to NO while the rest still wanted her to hit Florida, but you might be right.
I tend to give the GFDL more weight than the other models because it was designed for tropical cyclones. But it hasn't been consistent yet with Rita.
Coincidentally, that's my story too, but in reverse. To Houston Friday night. Back to Irving Sunday night. Every weekend for 6 months straight until I was able to complete the move. That was 3 years ago and my ass STILL hurts. ;)
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