I'm starting to feel less and less comfortable with staying in the med center for this storm.. I really think the wind damage will be absolutely devastating..
Hi everyone: I no longer live in houston, but many of my friends and family do, and I just wanted to wish everyone in Houston / Galveston etc. best of luck in dealing with Rita. I hope everyone on this board's loved ones, pets, belongings, homes, finacnes, jobs and most importantly physcal safety comes through okay. Me and the West Coast contingency of my family will be thinking of all of you. Keep us posted, be safe.
double ditto! I just spoke with the brother, sister, mother-in-law and brother-in-law. They are all getting out tomorrow. Good Luck to all and be safe!
Rita Stats Updated Day-by-Day : http://www.intellicast.com/Local/US...mLogs&product=StormLog2&prodnav=none&pid=none
I'm hearing reports of 190mph sustained and 899 minimum central pressure. It is very possible this could become the most powerful hurricane EVER in the Atlantic basin.
It probably won't sustain itself to be this powerful when it makes landfall. It takes virtually perfect conditions to keep this up and that probably won't happen.
WTNT63 KNHC 212351 TCUAT3 HURRICANE RITA TROPICAL CYCLONE UPDATE NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL 650 PM CDT WED SEP 21 2005 ...RITA BECOMES THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE ON RECORD... DROPSONDE DATA FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE UNIT RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT AT 623 PM CDT...2323Z...INDICATED THE CENTRAL PRESSURE HAS FALLEN TO BELOW 899 MB...OR 26.55 INCHES. THE DROPSONDE INSTRUMENT MEASURED 32 KT/35 MPH WINDS AT THE SURFACE...WHICH MEANS IT LIKELY DID NOT RECORD THE LOWEST PRESSURE IN THE EYE OF RITA. THE CENTRAL PRESSURE IS PROBABLY AT LEAST AS LOW AS 898 MB...AND PERHAPS EVEN LOWER. FOR OFFICIAL PURPOSES... A PRESSURE OF 898 MB IS ASSUMED... WHICH NOW MAKES RITA THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN. SOME ADDITIONAL DEEPENING AND INTENSIFICATION IS POSSIBLE FOR THE NEXT 12 HOURS OR SO. RITA CURRENTLY RANKS BEHIND HURRICANE GILBERT IN 1988 WITH 888 MB AND THE 1935 LABOR DAY HURRICANE WITH 892 MB. FORECASTER STEWART
Guessing landfall is Friday midnight. http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refresh/AL1805W+gif/205648W_sm.gif
These storms are like sharks to me. The alternately fascinate and terrify me. This storm is utterly amazing and completely horrifying. I'm moving well north. I'll still feel the effects. Hell, they'll feel them in Dallas! But, I don't want to ride it out in town. I can tell you this much. My house is tough. It has gone through numerous hurricanes in it's 75 years, so I fully expect to see it standing when I get back Saturday night or Sunday morning. If it isn't, I might need morphine.
Closed up shop today at Live. There was literally no one downtown except for a few people working. My Lunch today which is the busiest day of the week was less than half in sales. All the people here said they were all given the weekend off. I brought everyhing in and shut most of the circuit breakers and now i am home chilling. I live in the southwest side of town Westhimer and Kirkwood so i am hoping it's not gonna be too bad. We aren't thinking about openening until after saturday. Time to weather the storm and see what happens.
I was going to ride this one out, but I think I'm gonna go to Dallas tomorrow night--especially now that the latest runs of the GFDL and GFS have decided to break ranks and move closer to Galveston. I'm hoping that if I leave around midnight, I'll miss most of the traffic. Tomorrow I'm going to take about 300 pictures of my house and the contents.......just in case. This storm is a monster, and it still has several hours to grow over the warm eddy before its first eyewall replacement.
YUCK! Look at the infrared loop on intellicast and check out the jog to the north on the most recent frames.
