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Locked on 09/22/2005 3:40:46 AM PDT by Jim Robinson, reason:
New thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1489163/posts |
Posted on 09/21/2005 4:19:11 PM PDT by 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
Last I saw it was trucking along at 13 MPH.
I know. :) Gotta love it!!
I'm getting hungry again. I already had my B-day dinner and a huge piece of pie...no more foooood!!
Greta on Fox just now saying "but just a small turn to the north could devastate New Orleans. Stay tuned..."
She's clueless. Going to Houston tomorrow to wait it out. Hope her hair gets straightened.
Fox showing highway gridlock in Houston.
Somebody needs to send the person in charge a picture of all those flooded school buses in NO with a note that those will be cars on I-45 if they don't turn those lanes around.
Some nasty weather to be sure
See this link for recent alerts.
http://kamala.cod.edu/svr/
BTW, Keep this link handy after Saturday AM when Rita should be making landfall. It is constantly updated, and will provide us tornado info, etc.
Could be that the evacuation is going much better than planned. The thing is still a couple of days out. I mean... it's not like Louisiana when they waited too late, then panicked, then morphed into hand-wringing and whining.
When you hear Bastardi say more than once that he is becoming increasingly worried about the track changing with the hurricane landing closer to Galveston you had best pay attention.
He made a point of making sure he stressed it more than once to the reporter.
please see my previous post. The roads are gridlocked solid right now.
Ah, they'd probably put the whole thing up for sponsorships -- "the 2006 Hurricane Season, brought to you by Microsoft, with Hurricane Longhorn strengthing while tropical storm Outlook brews in the Carribean."
<<< Haven't they heard of contraflow down there?>>>
News conference this morning said they would start that in the morning...........
It was posted earlier. Given aftermath of Katrina, it is better to be safe than sorry if you live near the coast.
watch it... i got my post pulled when i suggested that. seems people here prefer the entire southern coast being devastated.
I just posted the graphic at #829, it's over your stated 50k limit,.
Will ask to delete it if you wish.
ROTFLOL! Thanks. You just gave me a really big laugh.
I'm laughing too hard to think of a come-back. If you have any more deep thoughts on the subject, ping me to 'em.
The 10 pm advisory slowed her down to 9 mph.
I agree with CindyDawg-- some hospitals in LA allowed people (staffers and volunteers) pets in.
My tag line (for now) refers to the Dr. at Lindy Boggs who was the last one out of the hospital. He stayed to take care of all the pets people had brought and refused to evacuate until all the pets were evacuated.
Ask. If you don't get the right answer, ask again and work any angle you can. Such as you'll only let your wife stay if you can volunteer and there's a place for your pets. (You CAN bluff, can't you?...) ;-)
Take care and keep us posted.
Well at least our dingbat gov did allow contraflow for 24 hours. I pray that they are wrong and will start the contraflow soon so that everyone can get out of harms way.
Decriminalize marijuana and tax the hell out of it.
That will solve your money problems.
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