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

[nwctwx]

After NO was hit, we started talking about the next 'worst case scenario' on the weather boards. A storm like this going towards Houston/Galveston would be just about it.

I can't believe this season.

I'm hoping for a quick decrease in strength.

[numberonepal]

If this new eyewall lasts 36-hours it will mean she will have a fresh one upon landfall.

Now all we need is for her to speed up to about 15kt and just get it all over with. What a nightmare.

[No Blue States]

FYI

Shelter opening in the unused Lubys cafeteria in Burleson, Renfro exit just past 174 coming up I35 from the south...

If you are coming up 35 with no where to stay this would be a good choice.

Churches will help people from there.

[BurbankKarl]

Guy just got his car stolen on KPRC CH2

[freeperfromnj]

I'm stickin with them.

Ditto

[Dog Gone]

Man just get out of their.. Call your wife, ask her what she needs packed because you are coming by to get her. If the job makes her stay, then its not worth it... What is more important family or a job? I am sure she will not have trouble finding a job later.. Now go call her...

I can't do that. They are flying in patients from Galveston to her hospital. Can we just leave them unattended for the next week or so?

Obviously, some employees don't care. If you were a patient there, you'd be begging the staff to stay. We're not going to do a New Orleans on those folks.

[John Jamieson]

1 atmosphere is about 14.7 psi. It's also 1000 millibars or one Bar (Barometric pressure).

[SE Mom]

But are you expecting it?

[Strategerist]

Millibars is just a different measurement for inches of mercury for measuring atmospheric pressure.

The lower the pressure the stronger a storm is, generally.

Meterologists use millibars almost exclusively.

Interestingly it's not the official metric name, which is Hectopascals; 1 Hectopascal is the same as one millibar though. Why this is so is a long and confusing story.)

[DCPatriot]

I have 60 bottles of water in my pantry...and 24 in the trunk!

What good are the 60 in your pantry if your house gets blown away?

[Strategerist]

FNC's Janice Dean was saying earlier, if I understood her correctly, that there wouldn't be any radar pics from Rita while she's out in the middle of the Gulf. Radar wouldn't reach out that far?

None of the landbased NEXRAD radars can reach the center of Rita and won't be able to for a couple of days.

[lasisra]

Please get on out of there early, especially if she's already having contractions from the stress! You don't want to take the chance that she'll go into labor early while you're in an area with no power, no potable water, and possibly no functioning hospital!

Good luck!

[KC Burke]

inches, is inches of mecury in a barometric gauge

mb is millibars, the metric measurement of barametric pressure.

as we get lower and lower in millibars it indicates storm strenght

see the tables at the start of the article.

its pressure is now very low like Katrina and other super storms

[ken5050]

Thanks for the info...the before-after pics are, sadly, going to be something..

[Crawdad]

That includes the Space Center down at Clear Lake.

[BurbankKarl]

I only worry about earthquakes!

[My Favorite Headache]

Beautiful storm...

[No Blue States]

I think we will have to reply on Satellite until she gets closer.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/satellite.shtml

[CedarDave]

Pointing his finger.."YOU ARE STUCK ON STUPID!"

Oh...

[Dog Gone]

Aren't you in a mandatory evac area?

No, I'm on the west side of Houston, supposedly out of the flood plain or storm surge area.

I know I'm out of the storm surge, but they're talking about 12-18 inches of rain at my location in 12 hours, so I'm less confident about the flood part.