[Dog Gone]

I don't see any reason why Rita shouldn't continue to intensify all the way to landfall. The SSTs are as hot as they can get, shear is minimal, and high pressure is aloft.

We could get lucky with it undergoing an eyewall replacement cycle at landfall, which is what Katrina did. But even if Rita is only a Cat 3 storm at landfall, that is a very dangerous hurricane.

I'm not taking much comfort that Corpus Christi is the projected landfall this morning. I think everyone between Brownsville and Lake Charles ought to be concerned that they'll take the direct hit. We'll have a far higher level of confidence of who is going to take the brunt of her tomorrow night or even Thursday morning.

One disturbing thing is that Rita is currently projected to arrive in the wee hours of Saturday morning. That's the worst possible time because you can't see a thing. You can't even tell that you're on the edge of being flooded or not and you can't tell how much flying debris is in the air. You're completely at the storm's mercy.

[kassie]

I think Isabel was a #2 when it finally reached Virginia Beach. Although the damage was less than a #3 or higher, it still looked like a war zone.

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

We had a bad tornado once when our daughter was 5 weeks old. I had been up to feed her, fallen back asleep - woke up to the phone ringing and rain pounding the house.

My Mother was hysterical - news was reporting a huge tornado in our very small town - with the possibility of hundreds dead.

It was the South side of town, and yes, it was a horrible storm that did kill several people, and crippled others. But we were asleep and had no knowledge of it until she called us.

[samantha]

That sounds like Jeanne, she came around 12 am, but there was a lot of wind and wicked weather before she got there. Jeanne hung around until way past daylight the next day. We had most likely at least 12 or more hours of sustained winds of 115-120 mph.