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

[Sam Cree]

Well, it's a truism that the skipper is responsible for everything that happens aboard his ship, his fault or no.
Although, like Aubrey in Master and Commander, I think that our presidents have long exceeded their orders.

OTOH, I was just kind of kidding about the whole Bush's fault thing.

[cake_crumb]

"On a thread yesterday they were talking about the numbers dead - I jumped in asking how many drowned versus had been murdered. They clued me in - they were talking about Iraq. Note to self: don't drink wine before posting on FR."

LOL! I've made mistakes before and will make them again. I'm distracted worrying about my dad and numerous other relatives in the Dallas/Ft Worth Beaumont area...my BIL lives outside Huntington and should - I hope - be ok. First time I've really had an excuse ;-)

[ContemptofCourt]

The ridge is huge and strong...Rita is moving along the forecast track, and it isn't going to push the ridge anywhere. Rita will turn NW and eventually N when the ridge moves east

[Howlin]

Fox is wrong.

[BurbankKarl]

Are you watching Channel 2? Traffic is JAMMED. Cell phones are overwhelmed. Another reason to get your ham radio license!

[Arizona Carolyn]

I'm no expert, but I suspect the high air temperatures in the area are helping to feed her.

[Knitting A Conundrum]

This following is from the NHC 4 pm conference call, which they do before writing up the discussion that comes out at 5 pm




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Group: Meteorologist
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Disclaimer: This data is preliminary. Individuals should consult the official forecast issued at 5 PM EDT for OFFICIAL data and warnings.

Initial intensity looks to be set at 145 knots... based on a 161kt FL wind, and a 906mb pressure (yes 906). The plane is going back in to take another reading as we speak. This easily makes Rita a Category 5. Track basically unchanged.... and landfall intensity in the vicinity of 125 knots. Large swath of watches to be issued in this advisory. They look to hold it as a cat 5 for at least another 12 hours over the very warm loop current and ideal environment.

[Prince Charles]

Is Whorealdo in Galveston yet? His makeup once again will be flowing down his face like Tammy Faye's before the week is out.

[steveegg]

Thanks. Now the question is why the NHC isn't going with that number.

[Illuminatas]

...This incredible drop of 11 mb in 105 minutes is the fastest pressure fall I can ever recall seeing in a hurricane, and exceeds the 10 mb drop in 100 minutes we saw in Hurricane Charley last year... --Looks like I picked a bad week to give up cigarettes.

--Looks like I picked a bad week to give up cough syrup.

[Spktyr]

What happened? Rita got bigger. And started accelerating.

[PAR35]

I think we have lots of refineries in Texas.

If the storm sticks to its projected path, it should miss almost all of them. I think there may be one refinery in the path of the storm. The rest are either well to the northeast Pasadena/Deer Park and Golden Triangle) or to the south. (Corpus area).

[SE Mom]

Disclaimer: This data is preliminary. Individuals should consult the official forecast issued at 5 PM EDT for OFFICIAL data and warnings.

[CindyDawg]

I don't know if it's high use in your area or Sprint just being Sprint but my cell phone acting up too.

[Strategerist]

They say these large hurricanes create their own weather.

Generally overstated. Often storms are better behaved trackwise and more easily predictable the stronger they are. Katrina was one of the most predictable storms ever once it reached Cat 3 through Cat 5.

[steveegg]

That answers my question. Another 2 mb drop. What was Katrina's minimum again?

[Steve_Seattle]

"for the MSM, only the specific radios and phones that are in iraq - can be used in Texas and New Orleans. no others will work."

I'm not a radio or communications expert, but the notion that all of our good communications equipment has somehow been diverted to Iraq strikes me as unlikely in the extreme. There's high quality communications equipment spread all over the country. Now someone who knows this stuff tell me I'm wrong.

[kx9088]

When I was home for lunch I was watching FoxNews. They had one of their reporters on the phone talking about how they were going to stay at a hotel on Seawall Blvd (??) until mandatory evactuations were put into effect and the hotel closed. Now they have to find lodging elsewhere.

Because of the coverage during the landfall in N.O., a lot of reporters probably figured they can hack it, what they don't realize is that ground zero in MS, nobody was on the air during the landfall.

I will say I kind of like the Weather Channel guys though, they tell it like it is and I feel like they're not trying to impress anyone.

[HoHoeHeaux]

Yes. I tend to agree with Jay Leno, whom I do not like. But he said "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegience?"

[AliVeritas]

Are you listening to the lady (with kids in background) in DFW who is not leaving cause her hubby (cop) has to go to work at 6 p.m.? She was crying. Now that's a cop.

Makes me disgusted that so many NO cops left; I think of that cop they interviewed saying he had a choice to make and he left with his family... wonder if his wife and kids were stuck there and he wasn't around would he respect someone leaving and not trying to save her?