Update: Category 5 Hurricane Rita - Live Thread, Part II

NHC - NOAA ^ | 21 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Category 3 Hurricane Rita became the fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season during the night. Hurricane Rita threaded the needle through the Florida Straits and moved into the Gulf of Mexico. Storm damage in the Florida Keys and South Florida Peninsula was light, with scattered power outages, scattered tornados, and mild to moderate flooding.

Mandatory evacuations are in effect for Galveston County TX and New Orleans. Additional evacuation orders in the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area are anticipated throughout the day.

Crude oil prices reacted as oil producers shut down and evacuated workers from platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.

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 Eastern Gulf of Mexico
Buoy Data Western Gulf of Mexico
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas

Images:

Storm Floater IR Loop
GOM WV Loop
GOM IR Still Image
Visible Storm Floater Still (only visible during daylight hours)
Color Enhanced Atlantic Loop
Key West Long Range Radar Still Image

Streaming Video: (coverage may be intermittent)

KHOU-TV/DT Houston: mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_khou
WWLTV NOLA

Additional Resources:

Coastal TX Evacuation Maps
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
Hurricane City
Wxnation Houston

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 I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[Sprite518]

So they hope it remains a 4...

[flowergirl]

Cool!!Nice to meet you..I own a flower shop and do wedding flowers mostly:)do you know what effects we are expecting here,if any?

[james_f_hall]

I said it many times, the way the media and democrats will absolve Nagin and Blanco is by bringing into question how well Texas and Florida prepare for hurricanes. While of course ignoring the GLARING obvious difference.

[texianyankee]

LOL...maybe it's 1.15 !

I just googled and found this site you can use:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/elp/wxcalc/windconvert.shtml

[steveegg]

I thought the nextr advisory was at 2:00 PM EDST?

That is when an intermediate advisory would be if it were scheduled. The 10 am CDT/11 am EDT one did not mention an intermediate one though.

[RDTF]

well that was at 11:00am...

[CedarDave]

Call her back and very calmly ask her for names, addresses and phone numbers of next of kin or close friends who live away from the area. Tell her that her relatives/friends are to assume they have been lost unless otherwise notified.

[Types_with_Fist]

The pressure is racing to the 920 mb satellite estimate in a hurry.

Wasn't it much higher just late last night? Geez, but this thing must be setting a record for rapid intensification.

[JFC]

Hobbs aint so bad. I was there when W came to town.

[cake_crumb]

My dad lives outside Houston, close to Beaumont. He evaced, luckily. What worries me about the storm surge is that the moon is still full. Highest tide even without a storm.

[SE Mom]

We evacuated close to that many in the Florida fires of 1998.

[CajunConservative]

Harry save the people some money. It was stupid incompetent boobs elected to a position higher than their abilities. See that took me one minute to type and saved you a lot of money.

[mewzilla]

Damn, but she's explosive. The pressure is racing to the 920 mb satellite estimate in a hurry.

=8-0

Well, if she intensifies too fast, is there an increased likelihood she could blow herself apart a bit and weaken?

[numberonepal]

Nowhere to go but down.

That's wishful thinking, and not necessiarly true. While the storm continues to move, there is a constant supply of energy. If she were to remain stationary, she could upwell some cooler waters and diminish in strength. Ophelia was an excellent example of this. This storm is moving at a pretty good clip and the supply of energy is not only continuous toward the coast, it becomes more intense (warmer water) on the way there.

[james_f_hall]

moon is waning, so i don't think that will be as much of an effect come Friday / Saturday.

[markman46]

hehehe LOL

[Spktyr]

Wind is an inverse square rule, as I recall. Double the speed, quadruple the force.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Blank-O and..Nagg'in hehehe!

[NautiNurse]

Thanks for the local update, and for the source link.

[steveegg]

Wasn't it much higher just late last night? Geez, but this thing must be setting a record for rapid intensification.

Yes, and it was at 934 mb at 10:17 am CDT. a 4 mb drop inside of 2 hours is a very bad thing.