Hurricane Rita!

[conjur]

5AM update

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE
THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 175 MPH...280 KM/HR...WITH
HIGHER GUSTS. THIS MAKES RITA A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY
FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN
INTENSITY ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES...110 KM...
FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 185 MILES...295 KM.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE ESTIMATED FROM REPORTS BY THE
HURRICANE HUNTER IS 897 MB...26.49 INCHES. THIS MEANS RITA IS THE
THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE IN THE ATLANTIC
BASIN.


New 3-Day Cone (shifting up the coast again and bringing western Louisiana into the picture)
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/085837.shtml?3day?large

 

[imported_Ed]

Originally posted by: OdiN
So...don't they go by name alphabetically? How did we get from K (Katrina) to R (Rita) so quickly? Seems odd.

pwned :beer:

 

[Medicine Bear]

Originally posted by: Chaotic42

Originally posted by: Ikonomi
I wish the search function worked better, because this thread is much better than the stickied one.

I PMed the mods several hours ago and told them that people wanted this one stickied instead. When I first posted my thread, I asked for the sticky, because there wasn't a Rita thread stickied yet. Sorry about all of this. Maybe they'll at least merge them or something.

I have a thread about it in Forum Issues as well.

 

[ElFenix]

if only it would hit vidor

 

[KLin]

Looks like it's weakened slightly according to advisory 19a.

 

[ShOcKwAvE827]

damn i just tried booking a hotel for my friend's parents who waited until the last minute. Every single hotel room in Texas is booked, let alone in the Dallas area. Paypal $20 bucks to anyone who finds 2 decent hotel rooms in the Dallas area for this weekend!!

 

[AbsolutZero]

Heavy rain stripe will be further east now. College Station has been spared the 10-15 inches. The only thing that could save a big flood over Ern TX and Wrn LA is dry air from the mid south entraining into the hurricane. Its been pretty hot and dry in this area for the last 3 weeks.

Looking at Google maps, not many major population centers right near the coast in the area. Things are looking better than they were yesterday.

A major cause of death may end up being heart attacks and strokes of elderly who were being evacuated or stuck in traffic.

 

[Mill]

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
damn i just tried booking a hotel for my friend's parents who waited until the last minute. Every single hotel room in Texas is booked, let alone in the Dallas area. Paypal $20 bucks to anyone who finds 2 decent hotel rooms in the Dallas area for this weekend!!

I sent you a PM with a hotel that has several rooms available. Very nice hotel, but it is going to run about 220 a night. Expensive, but if you *have* to have a room...

 

[Hammer]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
if only it would hit vidor

QFT

and then make a uturn and hit it again

 

[Mayfriday0529]

What do you do with 1.3 million people evacuating. Where do they go? shelters, friends and family hopefully?

 

[AbsolutZero]

What do you do with that many evacuating into an area filled with New Orleans and MS refugees? Time to double up on hotel rooms or ask people to open their homes. Maybe they can open American Airlines Center or reopen Reunion Arena?

 

[AbsolutZero]

1PM CDT Advisory: 150 MPH, 915 mb

 

[drum]

wow, shes really coming down now

 

[Ikonomi]

Anyone else going to ride out the storm at home?

For anyone still waiting to bug out... It's gotten to the point where evacuation is almost impossible with every freeway out of town over capacity. People are running out of gas on the highway, and the stations are out of gas. There's just nowhere for anyone to go. Now they're warning against being on the freeway when the hurricane hits, and that's not for another day.

And they're saying that trying to get back into the city will be even worse.

 

[archcommus]

Why don't we have some sort of advanced technology to make this storm stay in the water.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Ikonomi
Anyone else going to ride out the storm at home?

For anyone still waiting to bug out... It's gotten to the point where evacuation is almost impossible with every freeway out of town over capacity. People are running out of gas on the highway, and the stations are out of gas. There's just nowhere for anyone to go. Now they're warning against being on the freeway when the hurricane hits, and that's not for another day.

And they're saying that trying to get back into the city will be even worse.

My Aunt and Uncle in Humble are going to ride it out.

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Originally posted by: archcommus
Why don't we have some sort of advanced technology to make this storm stay in the water.

Its called Mother Nature for a reason...

 

[Phoenix86]

Originally posted by: ShOcKwAvE827
damn i just tried booking a hotel for my friend's parents who waited until the last minute. Every single hotel room in Texas is booked, let alone in the Dallas area. Paypal $20 bucks to anyone who finds 2 decent hotel rooms in the Dallas area for this weekend!!

Check out the Fort Worth area. There are two major conventions in the area taking up most of the hotel space already. Good luck.

 

[Ikonomi]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82

Originally posted by: Ikonomi
Anyone else going to ride out the storm at home?

For anyone still waiting to bug out... It's gotten to the point where evacuation is almost impossible with every freeway out of town over capacity. People are running out of gas on the highway, and the stations are out of gas. There's just nowhere for anyone to go. Now they're warning against being on the freeway when the hurricane hits, and that's not for another day.

And they're saying that trying to get back into the city will be even worse.

My Aunt and Uncle in Humble are going to ride it out.

It looks like it shouldn't be too bad up there... Good for them. I hope everything's okay.

 

[KLin]

Originally posted by: archcommus
Why don't we have some sort of advanced technology to make this storm stay in the water.

We're waiting for you to invent it. Oh wait you're an idiot, nevermind.

 

[ZOOYUKA]

Originally posted by: KLin

Originally posted by: archcommus
Why don't we have some sort of advanced technology to make this storm stay in the water.

We're waiting for you to invent it. Oh wait you're an idiot, nevermind.

Thats pretty harsh.

 

[Ikonomi]

I'm thinking we can just dump a bunch of ice in the gulf in the path of a hurricane to cool the water. Put those oil tankers to use since all the rigs and refineries are closed.

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: KK
Is the reason they are ex-meteorology because they were too accurate?

They were in the military.

 

[ShOcKwAvE827]

Originally posted by: Ikonomi
I'm thinking we can just dump a bunch of ice in the gulf in the path of a hurricane to cool the water. Put those oil tankers to use since all the rigs and refineries are closed.

lol just pictured the air force planes dropping reddyice out the back hatch in the eye of the storm.

 

[conjur]

5PM Eastern update...further weakening...ending an ERC?


AT 4 PM CDT...2100Z...THE CENTER OF HURRICANE RITA WAS LOCATED NEAR
LATITUDE 25.8 NORTH...LONGITUDE 89.5 WEST OR ABOUT 405 MILES...
650 KM...SOUTHEAST OF GALVESTON TEXAS AND ABOUT 390 MILES... 630
KM...SOUTHEAST OF PORT ARTHUR TEXAS.

RITA IS MOVING TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST NEAR 9 MPH...15 KM/HR. A
GRADUAL TURN TOWARD THE NORTHWEST IS EXPECTED DURING THE NEXT 24
HOURS. ON THIS TRACK...THE CORE OF RITA WILL BE APPROACHING THE
SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA AND THE UPPER TEXAS COAST LATE FRIDAY.

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS ARE NEAR 145 MPH...230 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER
GUSTS. RITA IS A EXTREMELY DANGEROUS CATEGORY FOUR HURRICANE ON THE
SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE LIKELY
DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 60 MILES... 95 KM...
FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP
TO 205 MILES...335 KM. ANYTROPICAL STROM FORCE WINDS IN THE NEW
ORLEANS AREA ARE EXPECTED TO BE CONFINED TO A FEW SQUALLS
ASSOCIATED WITH QUICKLY MOVING RAINBANDS. AT 3 PM CDT...A NOAA BUOY
REPORTED A 10-MINUTE AVERAGE WIND OF 89 MPH...143 KM/HR WITH A GUST
TO 112 MPH...180 KM/HR.

LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE REPORTED BY AN AIR FORCE PLANE WAS
913 MB...26.96 INCHES.



Shifting further up the coast. Houston in the clear, relatively speaking?
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_at3+shtml/204626.shtml?3day?large



Looks like an ERC is ending and there's some shear on the far northern side (from that high-pressure above)?

Something tells me this time tomorrow, she'll be back to near Cat 5 strength.