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]

Scary

[Zacs Mom]

Check this out ~ Rita @ 4:30 & 5:30pm EST

Is it just me, or do y'all see some northern movement between these images?

[markman46]

thanks for that image now in my head Norm!!! ;)

[bwteim]

According to http://meted.ucar.edu/hurrican/strike/orig/danger.swf

"a storm's winds typically decrease 50% after 12 hours of travel on land".

So you can take Rita's forward speed and calculate the time to reach Dallas.

[Strategerist]

The sort of deviation from model consensus for it to hit NOLA at this point would be basically unprecedented in recent times.

However the 18Z Globals, GFS and NGP (most aren't avaliable at 6 and 18Z, and these "in-between" runs have a reputation for squirelliness, which I suspect is unfounded) have both moved to a Galveston/Houston solution, a pretty good shift from the Matagorda Bay area.

[Coldwater Creek]

I think that it is about time to think about hurricane storm receipes.

[Txsleuth]

What an awesome picture...thanks!!

[texianyankee]

I used to party on Crystal Beach in my younger days.
That State Highway from Crystal Beach to Beaumont was half a pavement for much of the way - what hurricane destroyed it?

[don-o]

lot of time for that pressure to drop, correct???

Grant this, Oh Lord.

Amen

[CindyDawg]

I just spoke with my husband. He went to a county er meeting today. He said he was told that Gov. Bush has 1100 buses, 4 trains and a slew of ambulances on standby for the valley and that if the storm doesn't turn ,evac could be started as early as 32 hours. He was also told that something has been sent to the Pres. to sign where hospitals will not be able to refuse transfers and that the Attorney General will prosecute any nursing home owners that resist evacuation if mandated and that the Texas Department of Human Services will be at the door to make sure it happens.

[TheMom]

Appreciate it.

Are you going to leave the area?

[Brad’s Gramma]

Thanks and a bump for Brad to look at.

[CedarDave]

Boy, you are cutting it close:

Image Properties
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(limit 50 KB)

[Warren_Piece]

Speaking of visuals, I'm an IT guy, and today I actually wrote in a memo that a certain intranet application had "a user interface as appealing as Helen Thomas"

Hope I don't get fired over that one...

[raygun]

The power exerted by wind is proportional to the cube of its velocity.

[BurbankKarl]

some of us use photoshop to push the 50k envelope...

[getmeouttaPalmBeachCounty_FL]

Would a Cat 1 be something we should be boarding up for? I know that somehow I am going to have to board up a side window on my house because the huge Grand home next to me doesn't have any gutters. The last time it hailed here, the pellets of ice bounced right off their roof and down onto my windows. Not that the gutters would have stopped it or anything, but we don't have anything protecting the windows. Nothing has grown high enough yet.

[meyer]

I have a big a*s SUV too that I like to take on long trips but I'm tired of putting $80 a tank to fill it up.

You DO realize, of course, that if a hurricane were to destroy a large portion of our Gulf-based domestic oil and refining facilities, you'll likely have a much harder time getting gas for your vehicle at ANY price. And, any reduced capacity from US facilities would increase our imports from foreign sources, including the middle east.

[tobyhill]

What is unsubstantiated about oil and gas companies making profit off of a natural disaster? When you plan on being critical at least you should know what you're referring to.

[Coldwater Creek]

Don't you mean Gov.Perry????