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

[LikeLight]

Thanks for the info, jj. CAT 5 - then what? Is there some upper limit where physics prevents further intensification?

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

The forecast I am getting is high winds, lots of rain, and the potential for many tornados. The Arboretum is in NW Austin. That area is more elevated, away from the coastal plain and hence more protected from tornado activity that the area to the east of town.

[auto power]

Geat pictures...thank you!!!

[MOgirl]

Hello,

LOL! I lurked from '98 until last fall.

On a serious note, my prayers are with everyone in the path of Rita, and those still suffering from Katrina.

Glad to be here, MOgirl

[janetjanet998]

UW - CIMSS ADVANCED OBJECTIVE DVORAK TECHNIQUE AODT - Version 6.3 Tropical Cyclone Intensity Algorithm

----- Current Analysis ----- Date : 21 SEP 2005 Time : 121500 UTC Lat : 24:20:24 N Lon : 85:18:00 W

CI# /Pressure/ Vmax 7.1 / 917.1mb/143.0kt

Latitude bias adjustment to MSLP : -0.9mb

Eye Temp : +9.8C Cloud Region Temp : -73.6C Scene Type : CLEAR EYE Ocean Basin : ATLANTIC

[WestCoastGal]

That's true about the hotel rooms. I have a friend who is a travel agent and I was helping her answer phones yesterday. There wasn't anything available until somewhere north of Dallas which is probably Oklahoma now, or west being New Mexico.

[RDTF]

For some reason Janet gets beat up on these threads - but her info is very accurate

[steveegg]

The Arboretum is in NW Austin. That area is more elevated, away from the coastal plain and hence more protected from tornado activity that the area to the east of town.

Historically-speaking, I presume. I wouldn't count on it to hold up though.

[Mo1]

Good Morning, NautiNurse

I see the media is finally talking about THIS hurricane and not New Orleans

It's about time

To our Texas Freepers ... stay save and will keep y'all in my prayers

[IM2MAD]

Weegee (sp?)


Try "ouija"

[wolfcreek]

I live outside of Austin. Email me and I'll be glad to help. Just tell your son to keep up with the local news and they'll guide him in the right direction.

[Strategerist]

Ah...AODT; that's purely computer-based.

NHC isn't going to upgrade based on that with 2 of the 3 agencies with the human-performed ones at T 6.0, and I presume TAFB similar.

[SE Mom]

OMG

[Ron H.]

..... If she is going to leave, I would think she should do it this afternoon or evening.

Sounds like good advice. We can't leave ourselves until probably Friday morning. I still have three more huge (partially diseased) trees to cut down near my house as they are prime candidates to come down in a hard blow. I live on acreage in an area with tons of trees, beautiful and shady any other time.

I have others within striking distance of the house but they appear to be pretty hardy and should hold up pretty well.

[jeffers]

Thanks for the page references, I didn't even think of it.

Also, I made a special trip out around 0400 for 30 gallons of regular at $2.63 per. Might not be a bad idea to keep the tank full this week.

[Strategerist]

1) Everything of that nature needs to be sourced.

2) People need to understand the nature of what they're looking at.

[WestCoastGal]

"NOLA: don't worry be happy TX: Git R Done!"

Is that ever true, can I borrow that?

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Fox just had a clip on Dr. Gray who does the seasonal hurricane prediction out of Colorado. He says Rita is one nasty storm. "It is trouble, with a capital "T".

[sweet_diane]

Holding my place for later reading.

Also, I have a sister in League City and would appreciate links to local hurricane coverage. I'd like to know what my sis and her family are in for. They have a place in Trinity also and am not sure where that is.

[OB1kNOb]

Oil rigs in the path of Hurricane Rita (map: RigZone.com)

FYI - This will give folks some idea of where all the oil rigs in the GOM are located. - OB1