[nwctwx]

847
WTNT63 KNHC 212146
TCUAT3
HURRICANE RITA TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL
545 PM CDT WED SEP 21 2005

...RITA BECOMES THE FIFTH MOST INTENSE HURRICANE ON RECORD...

DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE
AIRCRAFT AT 416 PM CDT...2116Z...INDICATED THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS
FALLEN TO 904 MB...OR 26.69 INCHES. THIS MAKES RITA THE FIFTH MOST
INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN.

RITA CURRENTLY RANKS BEHIND HURRICANE GILBERT IN 1988 WITH 888
MB...THE 1935 LABOR DAY HURRICANE WITH 892 MB...HURRICANE ALLEN IN
1980 WITH 899 MB...AND HURRICANE KATRINA LAST MONTH WITH 902 MB.

FORECASTER STEWART

[dirtboy]

DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT AT 416 PM CDT...2116Z...INDICATED THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO 904 MB

Ungh...

[burzum]

...INDICATED THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO 904 MB

Am I the only one who physically jumped a little when I saw that number? Wow! That is some rapid intensification. And not even in the Gulf loop yet!

[SE Mom]

Dear God.

[steveegg]

Allow me to offer up my now-standard response to that bit of news that Rita's down to 904 mb -

OH &ht;expletive deleted>!

[jeffers]

ummm...just out of curiosity...at what point do the pressure in millibars and the expected wind velocity equal each other?

;-)

chin up peoples, this thing has to leave the loop current before it can get ashore. In the case of hurricanes, colder water is a good thing.

[Txsleuth]

Fifth most intense NOW...

but there is a lot of time for that pressure to drop, correct???

[Dog Gone]

...RITA BECOMES THE FIFTH MOST INTENSE HURRICANE ON RECORD...

Wonderful. Yesterday morning when I got up she was a tropical storm. Tonight she's this and the BAMM model run goes directly over my house.

I picked a bad week to quit sniffing airplane glue.

[steveegg]

NHC FINALLY posted that update. Maybe the CDT timestamp fooled them (the Zulu time suggests that it should have been 545 pm EDT or 445 pm CDT).