hey Tall_Texan,
any word from 590 AM on expected wind speed in Austin?
My wife was supposed to fly into Austin tomorrow and then back to Atlanta on Sunday AM, I see alot of models with the storm still in Texas on Sunday, have you heard anything about airport closures or delay forecasts?
Nothing yet. They are telling people to stay tuned for updates though.
KLBJ (AM-Austin) is quoting local emergency folks as saying we should prepare for "tropical storm winds" (that would mean up to 73 MPH). Sunday AM might be a dicey time to be flying. Sunday night might be better. The airport is in a somewhat low-lying part of Austin near the Colorado River so I could see flight delays as a possibility for Saturday night or Sunday morning depending on how fast she blows through.
A lot of the amount of wind we see in Austin will depend on two yet-unkown factors - how easterly Rita moves through Texas and how strong her winds are when she makes landfall. If she's a 200-180 mph major Cat 5, she could still have Cat 1 or Cat 2 winds this far inland. If she's in the 130-140 mph range coming ashore, I'd say TS winds are more likely. Some projections have her moving right up the I-35 corridor (or more precisely up Governor Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor) into the Dallas-Ft. Worth area and up through central Oklahoma.