Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part III

NHC - NOAA ^ | 21 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Extremely dangerous and large Category Five Hurricane Rita is churning westward across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas. Air Force Reconnaissance indicated the central pressure has dropped to 904mb, making Rita the fifth most intense hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin.

Hurricane and Tropical Storm Watches have been issued from Northern Mexico through the South Louisiana coastline. Galveston TX used school buses to evacuate residents. Mandatory and voluntary evacuations are in effect along the Texas coastline.

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 Western Gulf of Mexico
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Louisiana

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

Streaming Video: (coverage may be intermittent)

KHOU-TV/DT Houston: mms://beloint.wm.llnwd.net/beloint_khou
WWLTV NOLA

Additional Resources:

FReeper Sign In Thread Check in to let us know whether you are staying, going, and when you get there
FReepers Offering Lodging To Rita Evacuees People and/or Pet Friendly FReepers Offering Shelter
Coastal TX Evacuation Maps
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
Hurricane City
Wxnation Houston
Galveston Webcams
Golden Triangle Weather Page Provides Galveston Weather, Warnings, Radar, etc.

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 II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[BurbankKarl]

station ran out now...

what a dope...fill it with regular and dump some fuel treatment in it....one tank of regular gas wont kill a Land Rover Discovery.

[Diddle E. Squat]

You can tell her that the good news is that it appears more people are evacuating than we expected. As to the 30 mile storm surge, only up the Trinity River, and Galveston Bay normally extends that far inland. Give me a second, and I'll post a link to storm surge maps for the area.

[warsaw44]

hey there!
Never thought I'd run into you on any day but a Sunday! Gloria hit us in Boston too. I remember taping up the dorm room windows, the National Guard was called out and noone was allowed out. A few windows blew in on the 12th floor of my dorm complex. But other than that I don't recall how badly Boston got hit.

[jpsb]

I am going to bed, not looking forward to being homeless on Sunday.

Most of San Leon is gone, just about everything is shut down, 146, I45 is a parking lot, tomorrow just about everyone left is planning on leaving, it is so sad, we are all homeless come saturday, things are loooking very very bad. I will be doing an all hands meeting 10 am thrusdays praying for a shift in forecast track. We can not survive a direct/close hit from Rita.

[Revel]

I know what you mean Ian. I got away from it for quite a while myself today. This is going be bad for everyone.

[BurbankKarl]

actually, the gas station should have been rationing those bubbas with SUVs....

[Torie]

Here is the toy you are looking for. High is Sat AM around 7, low SAT 7 PM.

[Spktyr]

Anyone trying to get through via phone to Coastal TX, or trying to call out and failing - if both you and the other party have a cell phone, switch to text messaging and use that. The text messaging system is separate from the voice channels and is much under utilized. Just got a hold of a couple people down there by text message who were unreachable otherwise. They're on their way to Dallas.

[raygun]

Can you imagine if one of the satellite shots displayed a perfect Dana Skully eye in the center of that thing? Freaky. And then, if it like, blinked. Weird.

[onyx]

I think I;d stay too. It's hard to leave.

[Wiseghy]

I think you really touch on something here. The hyper-intense media coverage of this coming catatrophe just on the heels of the last will leave the country hung over with grief, sadness and frustration and looking hard for meaning in these ostensibly "natural" events.

I just don't know how to respond to this, and I'm not sure the nation does either.

One thing for sure, blaming the President for the weather should, finally, start to look extremely wrong.

[james_f_hall]

Link? Where is the 890 report?

[cleveland gop]

OH MY!!!!

[onyx]

OK! I love your maps!

[txhurl]

I guess the latest update said gusts to 215 mph. That's crazy. That's like a tornado.

Dude, that's NASCAR.

[AntiGuv]

Thanks for the tides info! Now to go match that up with landfall forecasts..

[lainie]

Hey! Yeah, I run around here chatting when I can. I got Gloria in southern Maryland. I think I was 17 at the time, and I ended up in a house alone all night.

[steveegg]

890 was never official. The recon plane measured the pressure at 899, but also measured winds at 32 knots at that spot. The NHC put it at 898 at that point (6:50 pm CDT), with the acknowledgement that it could be lower. They later revised it to 897 at the 10 pm CDT update, using the rule that an adjustment downward of 1 mb with every 10 knots of windspeed starting at 20 knots.

[Spktyr]

Try the Housing thread, think there was someone in Dallas who was offering his large home. Wish I could, but I have a small place and a large overprotective cat.

[conservative in nyc]

Can't have the Lexus run on just regular gas, you know.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's flooding along the Ship Channel in between I-10 and the Pasadena Freeway (TX 225), at least up to I-610 if the storm hits Galveston Bay.