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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
Contraflow has some problems. It is manpower intense for DPS, sheriff, and local po-lice. There is also the issue of accident response for EMS. And moving in pre-positioned personnel and supplies. The exercises show that 33 hours is workable for the evac. Lousiana's contraflow caused them problems.
Tomorrow morning is what they're talking about for contraflow. They want everyone to get out, but they need more vehicles to get them out and those have to get in somehow.
Are you sure about that? Did you actually see him say those things? I hope so because he was scaring me earlier on Fox news, but I've always thought he was a little histrionic so I didn't pay much attention to him.
That's what it looks like...the High pressure ridge is giving way a little in the west side of the gulf....
Dang.
Just saw that it's max sustained winds are 175 MPH...pressure 897...and this new track will keep it over warmer water. The wall of water this storm is pushing....
Only possibly good thing is that on ir satellite pics it's starting to look like it may be beginning an double eyewall, which means eyewall replacement time is upon us...with some weakening before reintensifying...
My daughter has room in her apartment in College Station if she can get up there. It's about an hour and a half from Rice. Just let me know!!
<<< Haven't they heard of contraflow down there?>>>
People have to be able to get home to board up and get their families. They can't just turn them all loose pointing north at this early stage.
I'd be worried if she stays at 9 mph at landfall. It's just too early to read a lot into it at this point.
I think they're after the gas and oil.
Tarrant County (Fort Worth area) has opened a shelter/intake center for evacuees.
Bad news for New Orleans if it happens on the high end .
Well, this year, it sure seems that way doesn't it?...:-)
I heard on FOX they evacuated the jails earlier today. All prisoners taken to jails in other Texas counties.
Rita has continued to strengthen since the last advisory. A dropsonde in the eye of Rita around 21/2309z recorded a pressure of 899 mb with a surface wind of 32 kt. Anything below 10 kt is usually considered a valid pressure. However...the general thumb rule is to decrease the pressure 1 mb for every 10 kt above that wind speed. In this case... Rita's central pressure is estimated to be 897 mb...making it the third most intense hurricane in terms of pressure for the Atlantic Basin. The last recon pass only indicated 2 reports of 700 mb flight-level winds of 157 kt in the northeast quadrant. However... ODT values over the past 2 hours have averaged between t7.3/149 kt and t7.4/152 kt... so the initial intensity has been increased to 150 kt. The pressure-wind relationship for an 897 mb pressure is 160 kt.
The initial motion estimate is 280/08. Rita has actually made a large wobble and slowed to a 285/06 kt motion the past 6 hours. However...such motion changes...which are not unusual for explosively deepening tropical cyclones as the inner core wind field and convective pattern reorganizes...are considered temporary and Rita is expected to shortly resume a more westward motion. The 18z NHC model guidance is a little more convergent than previous model runs... with the GFS and GFDL models doing their usual afternoon eastward shift. Those models now bring Rita across the Houston-Galveston area in about 72 hours. However...the other models seem to have stabilized their forecast tracks farther west with the consensus having shifted a little more to the right. The official forecast track was also shifted to the right...but not as far as the GFS/GFDL models...since it now appears that the global models have a reasonable handle on weakening the mid-level ridge across Texas and the Gulf Coast based 22/00z upper-air data indicating 40 meter height falls across this region during the past 24 hours.
The intensity forecast is somewhat problematic. The upper-level outflow pattern is perfect with a poleward outflow channel converging into an upper-low northeast of the Lesser Antilles... an equatorward outflow channel converging into an upper-low over the Bay of Campeche...and a third weak outflow channel developing to the northwest. This extremely favorable pattern...combined with 30-31c SSTs...has allowed Rita's explosive deepening to occur. The eye will be passing over the warm Gulf loop current during the next 12 hours...so some additional strengthening is possible... if an eyewall replacement cycle does not inhibit the intensification process. By 36-48 hours...the global models are in good agreement that the current three outflow channel pattern will be replaced by mainly a large poleward outflow pattern. This should induce some steady weakening...but that type of outflow pattern...coupled with expected low vertical shear conditions...is still sufficient to support a category 4 hurricane until landfall occurs. Of course... internal dynamics also play a role in what the intensity of a hurricane will be... and we have no skill in forecasting eyewall replacement cycles beyond about 6-12 hours...at best. The intensity forecast is similar to the trend of the SHIPS model...only slightly higher after 24 hours due to lower vertical shear indicated by the NOGAPS...Canadian...UKMET...and ECMWF models.
Forecaster Stewart
Forecast positions and Max winds
initial 22/0300z 24.6n 87.2w 150 kt 12hr VT 22/1200z 24.9n 88.7w 155 kt 24hr VT 23/0000z 25.5n 90.5w 150 kt 36hr VT 23/1200z 26.3n 92.4w 145 kt 48hr VT 24/0000z 27.5n 94.2w 135 kt 72hr VT 25/0000z 31.0n 96.4w 65 kt...inland 96hr VT 26/0000z 33.5n 96.5w 30 kt...inland 120hr VT 27/0000z 35.0n 96.5w 25 kt...dissiapting inland
$$
In Tampa Bay, we stagger evacuations...Pinellas evacuates first, so they can get across the bridges and out of Tampa, the Tampa, and finally folks in Manatee.
Worked well last time we evacuated.
Guess I'll go get our lifejackets out of the shed...just encase. :-)
Limestone Carrier "Bernardo Quintana" has a 0300Z report up on the Buoy Center.
Her 0000Z position is southeast of storm:
BERNARDO QUINTANA A
http://sailwx.info/shiptrack/shipposition.phtml?call=C6KJ5
Looks like she's done a big circle to try and stay ahead of the storm, and intends to pass by south of it....
Many already have, they are leaving their cars on the side of the road.
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