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

[mcshot]

Look's like the potential for more to worry about.

mc

[palmer]

incredibly perfect eyes of these hurricanes

Don't stare into it!

[don-o]

Tropical Storm Philippe is out there

Thanks. Wonder what changed to shut off the Katrina/Rita superhiway?

[mewzilla]

Thanks.

That's bad.

[steveegg]

The incredibly perfect eyes of these hurricanes are also quite scary to me.

I KNEW these hurricanes were Aryan :-)

[johnb838]

I suppose I have what one might mistake for a sort of fatalism. I'm convinced I'm not getting out of here. THere's no evac plan for those of us inside the loop. The traffic is in gridlock. It's time to trust in Him like never before. He is my Light. My Light and Salvation. In Him I trust, in Him I Trust.

[Milly]

Yeppers, but I am in the DFW area...I thought it wouldn't be all that bad here...

Im also in the DFW area .. I did not think we would get anything but rain, have you heard anything different ?

[Severa]

I'm reading this from the other side of the friggin country (the painfully blue state of Maine...GAH) and that just flat out scared me. It's like 'Well shit the instruments aren't built to withstand this so we'll just throw out an educated guess here...'

[Kozak]

Prove it.

Monday, August 29:



6:10 AM CDT: Katrina, a Category 4 hurricane with 145 mph winds, makes initial landfall near Buras, La.

Monday, August 29
7AM CDT – KATRINA MAKES LANDFALL AS A CATEGORY 4 HURRICANE [CNN]

Hurricane Katrina devastated portions of the central Gulf of Mexico U.S. coast from Southeast Louisiana to Alabama at the end of August and will most likely go down as one of the worst natural disasters in the history of this country. Katrina's deadly track began as she moved across South Florida. Katrina then strengthened into a Category 5 Hurricane while moving northward toward the Central Gulf Coast. Although Katrina weakend before landfall, the Category 4 hurricane's fierce winds and near-record storm surge were still able to cause widespread destruction and loss of life.

National Weather service
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hgx/

[Flyer]

Thanks. We are new together.

I don't even know if he is scared of thunder.


I bet I find out.

[Lazamataz]

Prove it.

Make me, timestamp liar.

[Txsleuth]

Did you read about that scary flu scenario, also?

I don't even want to think about..ghastly!

[pollyg107]

I don't want to get into a fight with you. However, your saying that New Orleans, the city, deserved to die, is cruel. There are people from that city reading this thread right now -- I know because I just talked to some of them. Their homes in New Orleans have been destroyed, and they have been forced to leave Houston, where they just this week moved into apartments. They were born and raised in New Orleans and they loved it -- the City -- as did many others, including me.

[Howlin]

Will you post that here?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1488829/posts

[Lazamataz]

Two HUGE hurricanes, then a flu that kills fully half of us.

And then Hillary gets elected.

Just frickin' shoot me now.

[Blennos]

Awwwww sh*t. Your pic just loaded. Another hurricane-former's coming up right behind Rita. NautiNurse, check out this guy's link.

Aren't you simply seeing the remnants of Philippe?

[Interesting Times]

I'm reading this from the other side of the friggin country (the painfully blue state of Maine...GAH) and that just flat out scared me. It's like 'Well shit the instruments aren't built to withstand this so we'll just throw out an educated guess here...'

No, you're misreading that. The forecaster said that there were surface winds at the location where the 898mb reading was taken, leading him to believe that the lowest pressure in the hurricane was elsewhere. Nothing to do with an inability to measure the pressure level.

[fishntex]

Strategerist is right on. In general when the pressure is where it is now the hurricane is a cat 5 but not as a rule.

[Kozak]

What in God's name are you ranting about timestamps?
Try and stick to the point. If I'm wrong I'd love to be enlightened.

[NautiNurse]

Please help me understand why you need to argue on this thread. What is your goal for being here on this thread?