Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part VI

NHC - NOAA ^ | 23 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Dangerous Hurricane Rita is expected to make landfall in the northeast Gulf of Mexico within 24 hours. Tornados have spawned in Louisiana. Water is filling the Ninth Ward of New Orleans again. A bus carrying elderly evacuees was gutted by fire this morning outside Dallas, with multiple fatalities. Television crews have positioned their hurricane reporters throughout the region to attain maximum drama effects. Whoooooa.

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
Houston/Galveston/Beaumont/Lake Charles Wx Watches/Warnings
Jefferson Co TX NWS Weather
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Texas
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Louisiana
Hi Res Houston Flood Zone Map Slow load, great detail

Images:

Lake Charles Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Houston/Galveston Long Range Radar Still image, with loop link
Lake Charles Experimental Radar Outages and Delays May Occur

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
KPRC-TV/DT Houston
KTRK-TV/DT Houston
KTRH-AM Houston
KPLC-TV/DT Lake Charles/Lafayette
KSLA-TV/DT Shreveport

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
KHOU Houston
KTRK ABC News Houston
KPLC Lake Charles Evac Routes, news
KFDM Beaumont/Port Arthur News, evac info
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 V
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part IV
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part III
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part II
Hurricane Rita Live Thread, Part I
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[not-alone]

I learned the hard way a safety deposit box is not the best place. The bank flooded and it was about two month before they gave me access to wet moldy papers.

[TheMom]

BTW - What part of LA are you from?

[CindyDawg]

Can you use an empty bottle? That's such of a waste of a beer.

[fishntex]

Rita Cosby is heavy enuf that we don't have to worry about her blowing into the bay.

She looks like a red seal in that suit.

[silentknight]

Trees down in Beaumont - debris also noted.

[SouthTexas]

They will try and will only succeed IF we let them. Nagin can try all he wants to avoid the bus issue, but the pictures are all over the country, the world for that matter, and it cannot be ignored. There were some, even here, that said it wouldn't matter how we tried to publicize the pics, it wouldn't work. It did, in part, by many here.

I love "stuck on stupid" and have started using it at work. :)

[Eaker]

Is there a looter stamp?

Yep.

Size 12 combat boot!!

[steveegg]

I also found a pretty good longitude/latitude converter (accepts either DDMMSS or DD.DDD, and outputs in true course and nm distance) - http://www.airways.com/java/coordcalc.html

That helped me immensely in plotting both the vortex reports and the alternating-on-the-hour advisories and position updates.

[Spktyr]

They were evacuated out first,

[jeffers]

That's the problem with forecasting, getting the curves right.

A linear track from the 1600 and 2000 plots put it directly over Sabine Pass. That 2000 plot is also 6 miles north east of the 1600 track (today) and 12 miles north of yesterday's 1700 track.

It seems to be hooking right, making Orange and Lake Charles more likely, with Port Arthur less likely.

I'm not changing estimated landfall yet, but wanted to raise the possibility.

This may just be a big wobble, and then again Heraldo might end up foiled again. Hope we don't see him saying PA dodged a bullet in the morning, while Lake Charles gets wiped out in secret.

[macrahanish #1]

Which needs the medicine, the old lady or the dog?
Maybe Jerry will hit the perfecta and they both need medicine.

[BurbankKarl]

FEMA Convoy heading to Astrodome 8:25CST

[cake_crumb]

Thanks :-)

[floriduh voter]

I'd hate to be a kid these days but what yours said = that's funny. Apparently, your five year old already realizes the world isn't all toys and candy.

[ruoflaw]

Hang in there, the same thing happened to me yesterday. How is the weather where you are?

[Soul Seeker]

I'm right there with you.

So far the only person that appears competant and ready to govern in a crisis in LA is an 18 year old who made off with a bus, loaded people into it, and drove them to safety during Katrina. Wonder what happened to him.

Rep or Dem. If you are politician from LA, you apparently are incapable of doing anything but grabbing money for yourself, threatening violence, crying or cursing.

[60 Miles North]

I noticed that too

[RDTF]

so freakin cool to see that

[steveegg]

Category really doesn't matter now. Rita is interacting with the coast and weakening, but the surge is still coming and damage is going to occur.

Exactly.