The hurricane can only go west for so long until the rotation of the Earth has a profound effect on the hurricane, meaning that it will go counter to the direction in which it began. We learned this in Dynamics! So it looks like this hurricane has made the move now.
Check out the latest computer models. The latest show it making a left turn after landfall. http://www.weatherunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200518_model.html
my parents went from the galleria to greenspoint area (20 miles) in 6 hours and half tank of gas. They returned home after that.
Comparing 10 a.m. with 4 p.m. today. Here is the latest from the National Hurricane Center. Rita is making a move EAST of here. Go EAST young lady, go East.
I left SW Houston (off Fondren) last night at 10 pm and I finally got to Waco at 3 am (6 hr drive). The sad part is I know I cut my time in half (at least) by taking Highway 6 to 290 (missed all the traffic on the beltway and 290 to that point) and riding the feeder whenever possible on 290 until I got to the other Highway 6 to Waco. Anyone know if downtown Houston will be safe? My mom was supposed to leave this morning, but with all the traffic and cars stalling/running out of gas she decided to stay. She works at the Four Seasons downtown and they are letting employees stay there to ride it out. Is a hotel safe for a hurricane?
So does that mean Baton Rouge is in trouble now (got a cousin at LSU)? This is what I hate the most about stuff like this. You know the hurricane is going to hit somewhere, so you hope it hits somewhere else and destroys that place as opposed to your city.
Ideally, it'll hit the Sabine National Wildlife Refuge with the most force, then by the time it makes it to civilization, it will have diminished somewhat. Not that anything within a hundred mile radius will be unscathed, but at least it will minimalize the loss of human life.
Right, but you would generally root for it to go to a pretty unpopulated place on the border of Texas/Louisiana compared to the greater Houston area with 5+ million people in it and a ton of the country's refining capability and busiest port. The good of the many.
Don't feel guilty about hoping for it to go over someone else, you aren't really affecting where it's going.
Boy, what a day... There are things that trouble me with the current line of thinking by both Galveston officials and the NHC. They seem to pinpointing a landfall location east of Galveston despite computer models showing a collapse of steering currents in a couple days. I think Houston is far from being out of woods at this point.
I'm more concerned now with the system stalling and backing over Houston. I don't want to see another episode where 20-30 inches of rain fall. My parents house flooded during Allison from water from White Oak bayou. My parents have already prepared for the worst. They have put their furniture up on bricks about 6-7 inches off the floor. They had four inches of water throughout the house during Allison. Why can't Rita just blow through and go rain on the Midwest! Unwelcomed guests should just know when to leave!
My dad is just north of Corscicana now... took him 19 hours drive time from south of Houston on 288, to I-45... btw- Where did Jeff go? Figure he's have a laptop somewhere at least...
I was thinkin the same thing. Katrina came and went fast. But Rita..crap she's taking FOREVER to make landfall and now its possible she'll stall out once she does hit land. Geez!
