Just came home to hear the wonderful FNC announcement -- CAT 3 --- weakening. CAT 111 - 130 mph. Sure beats the CAT 4 & 5 stuff.
At 1 PM CDT...1800z...the center of Hurricane Rita was located near
latitude 27.8 north...longitude 92.2 west or about 190 miles
southeast of Galveston Texas and about 175 miles southeast of
Port Arthur Texas.
Rita is moving toward the northwest near 10 mph and this motion is
expected to continue during the next 24 hours. On this track...the
core of Rita will make landfall near the southwest Louisiana and
Upper Texas coasts early Saturday.
Maximum sustained winds have decreased to near 125 mph with higher
gusts. Rita is now a category three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson
scale. A further slow weakening is possible before landfall...but
Rita is still expected to come ashore as a dangerous hurricane.
Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 85 miles from the
center...and tropical storm force winds extend outward up
to 205 miles. An elevated platform on Isle denieres near the
south-central Louisiana coast just reported sustained winds of 58
mph.
Latest minimum central pressure reported by an Air Force
reconnaissance plane was 931 mb...27.49 inches.
Don't underestimate a cat 3 storm though...
Category Three Hurricane:
Winds 111-130 mph (96-113 kt or 178-209 km/hr). Storm surge generally 9-12 ft above normal. Some structural damage to small residences and utility buildings with a minor amount of curtainwall failures. Damage to shrubbery and trees with foliage blown off trees and large trees blown down. Mobile homes and poorly constructed signs are destroyed. Low-lying escape routes are cut by rising water 3-5 hours before arrival of the center of the hurricane. Flooding near the coast destroys smaller structures with larger structures damaged by battering from floating debris. Terrain continuously lower than 5 ft above mean sea level may be flooded inland 8 miles (13 km) or more. Evacuation of low-lying residences with several blocks of the shoreline may be required. Hurricanes Jeanne and Ivan of 2004 were Category Three hurricanes when they made landfall in Florida and in Alabama, respectively.
And this will have a bigger than normal storm surge cause it was a Cat 5 storm earlier.
But every little bit helps!