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

[Fawn]

Funny..

".. Rising waters spill over New Orleans levees. Mayor Ray Nagin calms fears by telling residents that it's just the rinse cycle .."

[Lemondropkid31]

I dont know if it would be another Allison. We may not even get any rain out of this

[cgk]

Accuweather's storm path forecast has it stalling out for 48 hours in northeast TX along the LA border... not good if accurate.

[steveegg]

gasoline down $0.10 and crude down $1.70 on the nymex..

Natural Gas also down 0.27.

[Revel]

it could be a thin layer of concrete over the top of that(In your pic). I know I have seen pictures on TV where they were just pushing in dirt and rocks to repair the levee's. And I have also heard that many of the levees were earth even before Katrina. I guess we will find out later what happened.

[eastforker]

My thoughts exactly.

[ekwd]

http://www.nbc10.com/weather/3735525/detail.html

http://www.nbc10.com/weather/3735525/detail.html

This are some articles about what Ivan did when the eye of Ivan went in over Pensacola.

[ARealMothersSonForever]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1489887/posts?page=268#286
Great for a chuckle!

[cgk]

Forgot the link, sorry:

http://sirocco.accuweather.com/adc_hurr_images/2005/ar/UHAR_2.GIF

[blam]

I was present at the Grand Opening of Jack's. I'm suprised it's still open.

[AlleyCat48]

Thanks!! I've already surfed over all the different topics and this site is really informative.

[steveegg]

Check that; north-northwest (been thinking WNW so long it automatically popped up).

[oceanview]

TWC says Rita is weakening. it does appear to be gettng a little ragged on the west/southwest side.

[Double Tap]

I could not disagree more strongly. He used to run the NHC, and is as good as it gets.

I agree 100%. He is a good man.

[ken5050]

Well, I have a two car garage...yet for reasons that escape me..actualy they don't..I've just chosen to blank them out...I've been unable to get MY car inside it for years..

[steveegg]

Is the Cat3 forecast too high now?

Nope. The 10 am advisory had her at the border between a Cat 3 and Cat 4. The intermediary should be out in about 10-15 minutes.

[blam]

To answer your question from the other thread. Yes, I lived in the Houston area for 20+ years.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Welcome to FR! You will love it here!

[cgk]

weather.com's path seems to agree with accuweather's stalling forecast, calling for Rita to not clear TX/LA border until "Mon-Wed".

http://image.weather.com/images/maps/tropical/map_tropprjpath18_fcst_5nhato_enus_600x405.jpg

[RedBloodedAmerican]

One good benefit to having had several hurricanes go over and by me last year; the counterclockwise rotations of 3 consecutive hurricanes blew the mosquito population to...who knows where? The mosquitoes this year are the lightest I have seen in 8 years. Hopefully that will happen to the bayou area as well.