Here we go again: Hurricane Rita

[sicbeing]

Now at Cat 5 at 165 MPH as of 4pm EST www.weather.com

 

[Swift]

Now at Cat 5 at 165 MPH as of 4pm EST www.weather.com

I really hope those people get out of there.

 

[Famine]

its caused by man

~7% of global carbon dioxide load. And falling.

from all the harmful gases from our cars

0.25% of global carbon dioxide load.

and burning off oil

~5% of global carbon dioxide load, including the 0.25% from cars

and rubbish.

Can't even calculate that one. Sorry.


However, back to the hurricane.

Now that we've seen what can happen in NO, will the people of any town likely to be affected still believe "it can't happen to me" and stay, or will they evacuate as advised?

 

[Zardoz]

Now at Cat 5 at 165 MPH as of 4pm EST www.weather.com

This is ridiculous. Give us a break.

From Accuweather:

As of 4:00 PM EDT Wednesday, Rita is packing sustained winds of 165 mph with gusts to 185 mph; this makes Rita a Category 5 hurricane. This is the season's second catastrophic hurricane. As of 2:00 PM EDT, Rita was centered near 24.3 north and 86.2 west, or 745 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas.

 

[Arwin]

Global warming may or may not be contributing to the increased hurricane activity. Apparently the last 40 years have been what meteorologists say is a normal low-activity period, and we are now entering a high-activity period that is just as "normal", unfortunately.

We've been lulled into one of those dreaded "false sense of security" scenarios by the relatively few hurricanes we've had. As a consequence, there's been a frenzy of construction throughout the area, and a big percentage of it has been along the beautiful coastline, of course.

They're saying this high-activity cycle could last for decades, believe it or not. If that really turns out to be the case, we'll see a virtual de-population of the area as people are forced out.

The weather guy on our 8 o'clock news says that the number of hurricanes is not influenced by global warming, but the intensity of the hurricanes definitely is.

Considering the important role of the temperature and level of the sea, that seems plausible, but of course I am not an expert on weather.

 

[Duke]

its caused by man from all the harmful gases from our cars and burning off oil and rubbish.

No, it's not. It's caused by a large-scale decline in the global population of pirates:

 

[ledhed]

Its all Bush's fault . Thats why its going to Texas and thats why they always go to Florida.. Everybody knows that . If you look close you can see Ted Kennedy riding this one like its a bottle of Scotch and he's steering it towards Bush's ranch . He would have done it with Katrina but he was too drunk and she drowned . The radical loony liberals covered it up and blamed Bush . Look close I say ! Its a conspiracy !

 

[blargonator]

i was thinking about this today in school. its kind of wierd thinking about another horrible hurricane, as katrina was pretty recent. sort of like knowing about a awful car accident in advance and just waiting for it to occur.
if only we had a pirate factory.....

 

[Max Powers]

"George Bush hates Texans!"

 

[Zardoz]

...sort of like knowing about a awful car accident in advance and just waiting for it to occur....

5:00 PM EDT Wednesday:...The minimum central pressure has fallen to 914 millibars (26.99 inches of mercury)...Rita will continue to track westward through the southeastern Gulf of Mexico Wednesday afternoon and night with further strengthening expected as it crosses the same warm waters that helped Katrina strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane. So, it is no surprise that this hurricane has become a catastrophic hurricane.


The lowering pressure is a very bad sign...

 

[dropzone]

I spoke too soon in a Katrina thread about evacuation and now Rita is a Cat 5 headed my way . I'm in central TX and whenever I see a weather channel that hurricane Rita looks to be Texas size . I gotta stay tuned to the weather channels and the news for sure. The closer that gets the more I get cause you never know how long it'll take to get weaker and dissapear once it hits land.

 

[Zardoz]

I'm in central TX...I gotta stay tuned to the weather channels and the news for sure. The closer that gets the more I get cause you never know how long it'll take to get smaller and dissapear once it hits land.

We are estimating landfall between Galveston and Corpus Christi sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday...After Rita makes landfall, it will head northwest between Austin and Houston then track between Dallas and Tyler Sunday. We expect hurricane force winds to spread over a large area of eastern Texas after landfall. In fact, high-rise buildings in the Houston area could experience wind gusts to near 100 mph. This could cause some windows to shatter. In addition to possible damaging hurricane-force winds, tornadoes might be spawned by the cyclonic rotation from Rita mainly east and northeast of the center of circulation.

 

[Danoff]

We are estimating landfall between Galveston and Corpus Christi sometime between 6 p.m. Friday and 6 a.m. Saturday...After Rita makes landfall, it will head northwest between Austin and Houston then track between Dallas and Tyler Sunday....

AAAAHHH It's going to take out La Grange. It'll kill dozens. There isn't much between Austin and Houston.

 

[ledhed]

As long as ZZ TOP gets out ...can you imagine the carnage those beards will cause ?

I've been beard whipped ...! DAMM YOUR KNICKERS !

I have been rendered temorarily insane by friggin hurricanes .... They say we have been lucky for years not getting hit with bad storms and that this is the law of averages catching up....tell that to the people from New Orleans who now have ANOTHER Cat 5 hurricane to deal with...it must seem like the hand of God is following them .

 

[Zardoz]

...the people from New Orleans who now have ANOTHER Cat 5 hurricane to deal with...it must seem like the hand of God is following them .

Yeah! They're being pursued by packs of hurricanes! They've gotta be wondering what they did to deserve this...

 

[blargonator]

yeah, kind of like the city i live in. tornadoes occur in the area (south westish MI) and we have not had one for a long, long, long time......
hope things are ok for you dropzone.
haha yeah, ZZ top could be a pretty big hazard.
p.s. are you guys filling up your cars in case gas prices rise again?

 

[ledhed]

I filled up all three this afternoon ( My wife drives a New Taurus I gave her and I have a 67 Mustang that I have been driving since I was 16 ..it wont die and I cant bear to let it go . My normal get to work car is a 96 Saturn ...36 mpg 1.9 sweet little motor 5 speed that I full up every two weeks ) .

 

[Zardoz]

From The Weather Channel:

Hurricane Rita's rapid intensification cycle that began Tuesday afternoon continues...Rita's pressure has dramatically dropped to 898 millibars! Even as a large and extremely intense Category 5 hurricane, further strengthening is possible as the atmosphere remains favorable for development over the next 24 hours.

It is now the third most-intense Atlantic basin hurricane ever recorded. That pressure of 898 millibars is even lower than Katrina's 902.

 

[Zardoz]

Rita is an historic Category 5 hurricane now packing sustained winds of 175 mph with gusts to near a mind boggling 215 mph. This is the season's second catastrophic hurricane. As of 11:00 PM EDT, Rita was centered near 24.6 north and 87.2 west. This places Rita 670 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, or 570 miles east southeast of Galveston Texas. The minimum central pressure was estimated to be 897 millibars (26.49 inches of mercury). This was after a measured central pressure reading of 898 millibars earlier Wednesday evening. This is the 3rd most intense Atlantic basin hurricane ever recorded.


God help all those in its path...

 

[ledhed]

Cue music from JAWS .....

 

[Solid Fro]

Here I am, rocked you like a hurricane.

 

[Arwin]

Rita is an historic Category 5 hurricane now packing sustained winds of 175 mph with gusts to near a mind boggling 215 mph. This is the season's second catastrophic hurricane. As of 11:00 PM EDT, Rita was centered near 24.6 north and 87.2 west. This places Rita 670 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, or 570 miles east southeast of Galveston Texas. The minimum central pressure was estimated to be 897 millibars (26.49 inches of mercury). This was after a measured central pressure reading of 898 millibars earlier Wednesday evening. This is the 3rd most intense Atlantic basin hurricane ever recorded.


God help all those in its path...

215mp/h ... hmm, those gusts could blow the sails of a supercar or cause a boeing to lift up in the air from standstill.

 

[Young_Warrior]

Well they are evacuating all the people atleast it proves all those people wrong from hurrican katrina that it wasnt possible to evacuate or get means of transportation across for days.

 

[ledhed]

Thats what happens when you have a state and local government thats not corrupt and incompetant and has a plan .

 

[Swift]

Thats what happens when you have a state and local government thats not corrupt and incompetant and has a plan .

That's what's going on right there! A plan! Amazing how things can work out with a little bit of forethought.

 

[Zardoz]

...A plan!...

The saddest thing about the New Orleans debacle is that there actually was a hurricane evac plan in place, but it's implementation was pretty much completely botched. Almost nothing worked.

There will be many books written about how it all went so wrong...

 

[FoolKiller]

There will be many books written about how it all went so wrong...

And I won't buy one of them that are written for the next 20 years. It will take a historical researcher who only knows of Bush, Nagin, and Blanco as former politicians from before he/she was born to get an accurate unbiased depiction of this.

Rita and Katrina both barely touched Florida and mostly went in between Cuba and Florida. Since all the hurricanes from last year went over land at that point do you wonder what they could have become if they had only brushed land before getting out over the gulf?

Is it possible that the peninsula and Caribbean islands are actually doing a great job of weakening most gulf hurricanes before they hit that nice open body of warm water and Katrina and Rita have both done a good job of running the gauntlet with minimal land contact?

I was discussing that with someone at lunch, but now that I type it out it seems silly. What do you guys think?

 

[Swift]

And I won't buy one of them that is written for the next 20 years. It will take a historical researcher who only knows of Bush, Nagin, and Blanco as former politicians from before he/she was born to get an accurate unbiased depiction of this.

Rita and Katrina both barely touched Florida and mostly went in between Cuba and Florida. Since all the hurricanes from last year went over land at that point do you wonder what they could have become if they had only brushed land before getting out over the gulf?

Is it possible that the peninsula and Caribbean islands are actually doing a great job of weakening most gulf hurricanes before they hit that nice open body of warm water and Katrina and Rita have both done a good job of running the gauntlet with minimal land contact?

I was discussing that with someone at lunch, but now that I type it out it seems silly. What do you guys think?

First point: I agree

Second concept: Yeah, that makes sense. Hurricanes are strengthed by one thing(mainly). Warm water. The surface waters this year in the Gulf have been higher then recent years(no it's not globabl warming). But yeah, it happens all the time. When hurricanes come of the cost, they usually die fairly quickly because the water temperature is lower. That and the fact that land drains the power of hurricanes.

So, the idea is sound. Though the way that you(and probably I) worded it sounds silly.

 

[Zardoz]

...Rita and Katrina both barely touched Florida and mostly went in between Cuba and Florida. Since all the hurricanes from last year went over land at that point do you wonder what they could have become if they had only brushed land before getting out over the gulf?

Is it possible that the peninsula and Caribbean islands are actually doing a great job of weakening most gulf hurricanes before they hit that nice open body of warm water and Katrina and Rita have both done a good job of running the gauntlet with minimal land contact?

I was thinking that myself, and I wonder why we haven't seen any weather pundits mentioning it.

Land breaks up and diminishes hurricanes. There's no doubt that crossing Florida takes a lot of punch out of them. Katrina and Rita did not encounter any significant land masses before getting into the hot Gulf water. They were still very well-organized when they got there, which explains Rita's phenomenally fast powering up from a Cat 1 to a historically-ferocious Cat 5 in such a short time.

 

[Swift]

They were still very well-organized when they got there, which explains Rita's phenomenally fast powering up from a Cat 1 to a historically-ferocious Cat 5 in such a short time.

Thank God it's down to a Cat 4 now...