You should be fine....unless there is a tornado or catastrophic flooding (neither of which can be predicted right now). Your house is built to withstand 3 seconds (much longer than you think) gusts of 110 miles an hour. If you get scared, you can wade over to my house and huddle with my wife. I'll be on the porch sipping Scotch. http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/wind/maps/brazoria.html
Looking at the latest satellite images, it appears Rita has completed her eyewall replacement cycle and has a well-formed eye around her. Her last northward wobble - and we'll have to wait for coordinates from the NHC in about an hour - has her now basically SW of the area just east of Port Aurthur between there and Sabine Pass. Her westward wobble appeared to be minor and she is back on a northwesterly track. I am going to bet that her wind strength has increased a bit and her central pressure dropped a bit since the last report given that she looks better organized now. Over the next 12 hours leading up to landfall, she should continue to gradually decrease in intensity. The last model had her at 120mph sustained winds at the eyewall at landfall. To me, movement appears to be slightly west of north rather than straight northwesterly, but it's hard to tell if that is just a wobble or a consistent pattern.
Nah, just a hobby. A geeky hobby, but a hobby. It's like photography. I love taking pictures but I'm not really interested in shooting for a living...unless it's for Playboy.
Not true. It seems like he's found his true calling.... keeping Clutchfans informed about all weather crisises.
Winds picking up in Houston (Med Center area), dark blue clouds starting to cover us. Pretty clear rain's about to come. Game on! Evan
Winds are sustained around 20mph out here in Montgomery with gusts to around 30. I can still see some blue sky and sun peeking through, but that will change soon enough.
Send it through jbalke@tworoadsmedia.com but post when you do. I'm checking email every few hours, but checking the BBS more often.
The new NHC update should be out momentarily. Interesting that Wunderground.com has the latest tracking map showing Sabine Pass at the dead center of the landfall cone. Southern Galveston Island is now out of the cone for the first time.
Just looking at the latest discussion and they feel the eyewall replacement cycle was the primary reason for the decrease in intensity and that now the hurricane will probably diminish only slightly before landfall making landfall near the Texas/Louisiana border as a category 3 hurricane with winds near 105 knot or about 120mph. This would seem to be confirmed by satellite imagery that shows a weakened but still fairly symetrical storm that is getting beaten up pretty good by wind shear. This shift slightly to the east - and I caution that this is only assuming a shift to the east around Sabine Pass and isn't any kind of guarantee - will probably mean a decrease of about 10mph in sustained wind speed in the Houston area reducing winds in central Houston north to Conroe from projected previous estimates of 65mph to around 55mph. Obviously, we have a ways to go. We have about 12 hours before Rita makes landfall and we'll have to see just what happens. Any slight shift to the left will change things for us. We aren't out of the woods yet.
What a day -- I volunteered and worked the 211 line today (6-3) at the OIG office -- only took Hurricane info/emergencies today of course. It is unbelievable how many people are stranded on the side of the road ~ especially on I-10 right where the hurricane is heading. They have suspended the fuel trucks and are now just sending buses to pick people up -- you must leave everything behind. A crazy scenario is unfolding. ****
What part of I-10 are people stranded on still? If there are people on I-10 between Baytown and Lake Charles, they are in deep doodoo.
Lots of folks are stranded along that stretch of IH ~ so many calls I took today were people wanting gas. "Where can I get gas?" "When will they bring me gas?" People are going to freak when it starts raining on them and they're stuck on the freeway. They're also going to freak when a bus pulls up and say, "get on and leave your car, belongings, and that big dog."
Still here in Beaumont guys. Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. It's starting to get ugly here. Real ugly. The before and after pictures I'm taking should be interesting.
