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

[laz]

..discussion of the eye replacment taking place in the next 12 hours (approx)- and then possibly going annular..

Discussion was interesting... until they started hoping Rita hits W's Crawford ranch. Geez, I might as well go to DU to read that kind of garbage. Thousands of people are going to be impacted by this monster storm, and that's what those bozos think about.

[TX Bluebonnet]

They will announce at noon whether or not Victoria is to have Mandatory Evacuation. Port Lavaca has announced mandatory evacuations already according to a coworker.

There is discussion here that if mandatory evacuations are order, then you can only use highways designated as official Hurricane Evacuation Routes. Is that true?

[nanetteclaret]

Grapevine has the very large Gaylord Texan Hotel, near Bass Pro Shop. There are also hotels in Las Colinas, as well as DFW Airport.

[Tuxedo]

That would be 1200 AM - WOAI. Clear channel, 50 KW.

[Rumierules]

Did you say CAT 5? Where did you see that?

[BureaucratusMaximus]

Amazing. I am well inland but still going to make some preparations.

I wonder how much rain will come up to the midwest?

[southernnorthcarolina]

I was in Charlotte 6 months after Hugo, the place was still a mess, truck after truck of trees going past. You'd drive down the highway and the forest on both sides was snapped off 30 feet above the ground. Hotels full of out of state linemen.

I'm a native of Charlotte, lived there during Hugo, and still live in Charlotte's exurbs. Even to this day, deep in the woods around here, you can orient yourself by remembering that all those decaying tree trunks were laid down pointing west to northwest, as the eye, still intact 200+ miles inland, passed just to our west.

Charlotte is a good example of the tremendous amount of damage which can be inflicted by winds of "only" 90 mph or so. Pines and palms near the coast are sparser and more flexible than the huge oaks and other hardwoods Charlotte is famous for. I would guess that 90% of our damage was indirect (caused by falling trees) as opposed to direct (wind blowing out windows or tearing off roofs). Obviously, above ground utilities were the first to be knocked out, but below ground utilities weren't safe, either, as the roots of the huge felled trees ripped up underground power, cable, and phone lines; natural gas lines; and even water and sewer pipes.

[Jeff F]

Bay City? Isn't that where the reactors are?

Yup, the STNP reactors they are south of Bay City near Blessing and just inland from the Matagorda Bay. I have not yet seen anyone else mention this tidbit. Time to panic!

Factoid - Blessing was to have originally been named "Thank God" by legendary cattleman Shanghai Pierce after completing a railroad line to it but the proprieties of the day (and perhaps his wife) gave us its current name.

[Lemondropkid31]

It's a 5 already? when I left for the store it was a 4!

[sissyjane]

>>Yeah...I kinda like :
Hurricane ScreamingEagleMom<<

Well it definately sounds better than hurricane "sissy"...

[Frank_2001]

Love that General!

[sheikdetailfeather]

Thanks!

[Spktyr]

Don't think so. There are too many Texas back roads in the area - so long as you are heading *away*, nobody is going to care.

The Hurricane Evac routes will probably go contraflow in about 48 hours if traffic warrants it.

[PAR35]

Last time I went from D-town Dallas to D-town Austin, I seem to recall it being about 225-250mi.

Per my Rand McNally atlas, 195 road miles Dallas-Austin.

I just remember that I budget 2 hours for Waco, 4 hours to Austin and 5 hours to San Antonio from the north side of the Metroplex. Houston is 4-5 hours depending on where you are going. (5 will get you to Galveston). All times are at average traffic flow speeds and assume that the interstates are not shut down.

[No Blue States]

"I still have plenty of time to get out, I am watching the track very closely. Matagorta bay and south, I am OK, north of M Bay I'm outta here."

"AGREE WITH LATEST TRACK FROM NHC WHEN BRINGS THE MAJOR HURRICANE ON-SHORE NEAR OR *just east of Matagorda bay* AND THEN NNW TO NEAR WACO EARLY SUNDAY MORNING.

From the 10:25 am 9-21-05 Fort Worth Discussion:

http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/tx/discussion.html

[TX Bluebonnet]

We had a ton of damage from Cat 1 Claudette a few years ago because the ground was already saturated when it came through. Huge, huge live oak trees down everywhere.

[Spktyr]

Nothing to worry about, they can crash-shutdown the place and get out if they have to. It'll take a few weeks to bring back online if they have to crash it, but nothing bad will happen to it in the hurricane. It could flood almost completely and nothing will happen if it's shut down. In that respect, the nukes are a lot better than conventional plants.

[SE Mom]

LOL:)

[steveegg]

Not quite yet. She's still a 4, but the early recon flight was scrubbed, and the plane in the air hasn't reported back yet.

[jpsb]

"Have you made a storm plan?"

I am in very good shape to ride one out, generator, food,water,fuel,etc. I am watching the track, Matagorta Bay is my bench mark for a b ig bad hgurricane. North of Matagorta bay I leave, south of Matagorta Bay I stay. Nice to have a thread like this where I can collect lot's of info with a quick read, thx