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

[onyx]

SEVENTY mile back up leaving Houston?

[Spktyr]

Science is a wonderful thing. Through its wonders, many things can be replaced after a loss. However, science still has no way to replace an individual who has died.

For everyone who's thinking about staying, get out now. Things can be replaced. You cannot.

[nevergore]

Icing and T-storms scare me...wind doesn't bother me as long as I don't exceed the cross-wind component....

Speaking of poking through pop-ups, I have a stormscope in the plane and was flying IFR in the daytime from Sumnter SC to RYY (atlanta area). I was cleared to deviate from flight plan due to storm avoidance when just south of Greenvile I spotted a tornado on the ground about 25 miles out directly in my path.....that's a pretty impressive sight. I gave a PIREP it to weather so they could get the alert out.

That was fun.....

NeverGore :^)

[Spktyr]

WFAA: Galveston to Huntsville is currently a 10 hour drive.

[BurbankKarl]

That is what he said. Said he was going to drop one WalMart trailer, pick up an empty and head back north in the jam.

[steveegg]

Update was a bit faster than TWC predicted. Salient points -

- Motion now given as west-northwest (still at 9 mph; was west at 9 mph at 10 pm).
- Now 540 miles ESE of Galveston and 645 miles ESE of Corpus Christi (was 570/670 at 10 pm).
- Fresh aircraft recon puts the maximum winds still at 175 mph and minimum pressure at 898 mb (while that's up 1 mb from 10 pm, the 897 mb then was estimated from a 899 mb in a 32-knot wind measurement at 6:09 pm; so don't read too much into that).

[seeker41]

FYI, a cat 4/5 hiting freeport is the worst case for galveston bay area. that is what we are looking at, think Katrina was bad? Wait till Rita is finshed and southeast Texas with it's millions are homeless and it's oil/gas production/seafood/manurfacturing/refinery/NASA/ports/ are shutdown.

Houston is the Oil Capital of the World,if we get hammered, the entire country will suffer the effects for months perhaps years. You have Texas City directly outside Houston with many refineries, if this storm does what is expected the entire upper coast and surrounding area will be under a 25' wall of water.

I'm heading out of town between 3 and 4 in the am. Pray for us-I don't know what we'll come back to...

[jpsb]

SEVENTY mile back up leaving Houston?

Highways here are a parking lot, 45 miniutes to go less than 3 miles. Cars lined up for miles and miles and miles. This area is the third largest in the nation, major trafic jam.

[onyx]

Excellent advice and I concur.

I would add only to go ahead and eat all the ice cream everyone has in their freezer...lol.. Katrina taught me that lesson -- it was an ugly job cleaning up the melted, icky stuff.

[steveegg]

I hate to see what the sun brings.

Hopefully a miracle.

With that, I'm done for the night.

[dandelion]

Darlin' we are praying for you right now. You need to get a little sleep if you can - you are going to need the rest. Where are you headed?

[onyx]

WOW -- worse than an L.A. freeway back up.

[Sally'sConcerns]

For info for people about Houston Freeways; traffic cams, map of freeway system, etc. Ckick on the camera icon's and you can watch traffic flow. Updated automatically. Use map control on the left to add layers of incidents, construction, etc.

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/layers/layers.aspx

[jpsb]

Good luck, be safe.

[HoHoeHeaux]

701
URNT12 KNHC 220559
VORTEX DATA MESSAGE
A. 22/05:38:00Z
B. 24 deg 46 min N
087 deg 34 min W
C. 700 mb 2218 m
D. NA kt
E. NA deg nm
F. 139 deg 165 kt
G. 063 deg 012 nm
H. 898 mb
I. 9 C/ 3044 m
J. 28 C/ 3047 m
K. 3 C/ NA
L. CLOSED WALL
M. C16
N. 12345/ 7
O. 0.02 / 1 nm
P. AF307 1618A RITA OB 04
MAX FL WIND 165 KT NE QUAD 05:34:00 Z
FREQUENT LIGHTNING
MODERATE TURBULENCE IN EYEWALL
EXTREMELY IMPRESSIVE STADIUM EFFECT IN MOONLIGHT

http://www.easternuswx.com/bb/index.php?showtopic=53471&st=140

[BurbankKarl]

Here is Houston Traffic from XM226

107am

**Jam Factor Red**

Southwest fwy good both directions

10 jammed both directions

45 north @ 610 north loop avg 6mph

beltway 8 east jammed

99 slow from s fry to 10

Harris County has waved tolls

Gulf fwy HOV lanes open to inbound traffic, will be outbound only starting Thursday

I missed a bunch, they were mostly jammed. the Red Cross is using XM to send information to their responders.

[seeker41]

Thank-you for your prayers, we'll be heading west to Abilene, my aunt lives there. We are taking 8 animals and mom with us.lol

[steveegg]

Damn; she got kicked up from both the previous (and ancient) Vortex messages (161 knots in the afternoon in the NE quad) and the 10 pm discussion (which noted a 157-knot wind in 2 spots of the NE quad).

Between the turbulence in the eye and the shrinking eye (the last measurement was 20 nm), looks like she's starting to undergo an eyewall replacement.

[HoHoeHeaux]

Is lightening normal? That's what got my attentin.

[lsucat]

You will be in my prayers. I just can't believe this is happening again.