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

[Txslady]

awww cute dogcam, Flyer

[RDTF]

Hey Hound - Welcome to FR - By the way, I have a prized first edition of that novel!

[Lazamataz]

Eaker, tell Flyer and Xena. Tell them to go NOW. This ain't no joke. The stormhunter people in the planes are STUNNED at the power of this storm, and it will get stronger. This may be the strongest hurricane in history before it's through.

[fishntex]

Hey now! I resemble that.

[KingKongCobra]

God bless, have a safe trip.

[Txsleuth]

At first, I thought that was a black/white picture of a belly-button...sheesh!

[publana]

I'm surprised ol Troy isn't forcasting sunny skies.

I kid you not, one time I was in Dallas staying at DFW at the Hilton where I could look out my window and see the roof of their station. There was bowtie on TV stating all the scientific reasons it could not and would not snow in Dallas. I called the station and told them somebody needs to tell Bowtie to look out the window. It was snowing like hell.

[RummyChick]

interesting comparisons of measurements. Bastardi did say he was becoming increasinly concerned about a Galveston hit but his prediction so far is not for a Galveston hit.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1488976/posts

[demkicker]

Prayers for a safe trip. If you have internet access at your destination, please check in when you can.

Thanks to all of you for the prayers. We'll need them. If we can just find some gasoline along the way, we'll be fine.

Here are some strange facts to munch on:

Seems we have a storm take this track every 22 years. Hurricane Carla hit 44 years ago, Hurricane Alicia hit 22 years ago and now we've got Rita. Isn't that weird?

I'm just hoping to be having a margarita tomorrow night, celebrating our escaping this brutal storm! Will check in on my friend's computer when I get the chance. Take care, friends....

[Ninian Dryhope]

*Spit tobacco towards storm*

You don't spit into the wind and you mess around with Rita.

[mlbford2]

I'm going to wait till tomorrow to see the forcast. They are saying that it will likely go to a Cat 4 by tomorrow and make landfall with 145mph winds. Hit Houston propper with 115. I'll ride that senario out.

[Txsleuth]

Did you hear the Aggies are playing tomorrow night?

[RDTF]

Godspeed!

[NautiNurse]

Godspeed to you

[PAR35]

"U" should be "UNIX"

UNIVAC

Young pups don't know anything these days.

[fishntex]

Your tagline is great. I heard clips of that press conference today and it was so refreshing to hear someone slap down some "stupid" reporters.

It was stupid too.

[Flyer]

Eaker, tell Flyer and Xena. Tell them to go NOW

Sigh. . . telling Eaker to tell me to do something is the same as telling me NOT to do it.

Seriously, We are in close contact here. We have a bug out spot. Now is not the time to go anywhere. The highways are at a standstill. We could be on the road in 20 minutes if we decide that is best.

[blam]

"Call me crazy, but I can just picture an old Texan standing on his porch, chewing tobacco in his mouth looking at the storm approaching, and saying in a low grumble, "So yer what all the noise is 'bout? All right old girl, show me what ya got." *Spit tobacco towards storm* "Ain't you heard? This is Texas. We take don't take no guff from no storm.""

We had a home video shown on local TV here of a large guy drinking beer and saying stuff like "ain't no damn hurricane gonna make me...blah, blah blah." The video was shown because he died during Katrina. This is serious stuff.

Does anyone care to speculate about the availability of gasoline nationwide if this wipes out the Galveston/Houston area.

[RDTF]

Here is link to watch it!

http://thepoliticalteen.com/video/stuckonstupid2.wmv

[alancarp]

That map is a projection of pressure just after landfall (hence the significant rise to 954mb). The color scheme is a rainfall indication. Don't read too much into that -- it does NOT indicate a maximum of 4 inches of rain -- that's probably for a 3 or 4 hour snapshot.

The important bit? The intense arriving winds would (if this happens) throw Galveston Bay into the greater Houston area.