Hurricane Rita Live Thread

NHC - NOAA ^ | 20 September 2005 | NHC - NOAA

[NautiNurse]

Hurricane Rita is in the Florida Straits, impacting the Florida Keys and South Florida Peninsula. Hurricane watches and warnings are in effect for numerous portions of South Florida. Check local weather statements for updates.

The following links are self-updating:

Public Advisory Currently published every 3 hours 5A, 8A, 11A, 2P, etc. ET
NHC Discussion Published every six hours 6A, 11A, 6P, 11P
Three Day Forecast Track
Five Day Forecast Track

Rita Forecast Track Archive
Forecast Models
Buoy Data SE Florida
Current Weather Warnings and Watches for Florida

Images:

Storm Floater IR Loop
Visible Storm Floater Still (only visible during daylight hours)
Color Enhanced Atlantic Loop
Florida Radar/Sat Loop Caution: Broadband users only
Extra Large Miami Radar Broadband only
Extra Large Key West Radar Broadband only
Miami Long Range Radar Loop
Key West Long Range Radar Loop
Miami Experimental Radar Still Image
Key West Experimental Radar Still Image

Streaming Video: (coverage may be intermittent)

WTVJ-TV/DT Miami (NBC6)
WFOR-TV/DT Miami (CBS 4)
WSVN-TV/DT Miami (Fox)

Other Resources:

Florida East Coast Surf Reports Lots of great info here, including surf cams
Central Florida Hurricane Center
Hurricane City

Category	Wind Speed	Barometric Pressure	Storm Surge	Damage Potential
Tropical Depression	< 39 mph < 34 kts			Minimal
Tropical Storm	39 - 73 mph 34 - 63 kts			Minimal
Hurricane 1 (Weak)	74 - 95 mph 64 - 82 kts	28.94" or more 980.02 mb or more	4.0' - 5.0' 1.2 m - 1.5 m	Minimal damage to vegetation
Hurricane 2 (Moderate)	96 - 110 mph 83 - 95 kts	28.50" - 28.93" 965.12 mb - 979.68 mb	6.0' - 8.0' 1.8 m - 2.4 m	Moderate damage to houses
Hurricane 3 (Strong)	111 - 130 mph 96 - 112 kts	27.91" - 28.49" 945.14 mb - 964.78 mb	9.0' - 12.0' 2.7 m - 3.7 m	Extensive damage to small buildings
Hurricane 4 (Very strong)	131 - 155 mph 113 - 135 kts	27.17" - 27.90" 920.08 mb - 944.80 mb	13.0' - 18.0' 3.9 m - 5.5 m	Extreme structural damage
Hurricane 5 (Devastating)	Greater than 155 mph Greater than 135 kts	Less than 27.17" Less than 920.08 mb	Greater than 18.0' Greater than 5.5m	Catastrophic building failures possible

Previous Threads:
Tropical Storm Rita
Tropical Depression 18

[Sam Cree]

I think it safe to assume that the front right side of the cane, relative to its direction of travel, is normally the strongest quadrant. If the cane is moving north, that makes it the NE quadrant. 'Course they usually move somewhere between W and NE.

[dawn53]

Good advice.

We're in Florida and having been through the drill a few times, we keep all important papers (or copies) in a fireproof lockbox (we adopted the word before Algore, LOL) in our home. Life insurance, homeowners info, car insurance, boat insurance, passports, deed to the house, car titles, boat titles, birth certificates, my husband's naturalization certificate (he used to be a Canadian), immunization records, marriage certificate, our dogs have id chips so that's in there too, disks with photos of stuff in the house, and we always keep cash on hand in there, just in case.

When everything's in one place, we can just grab the box and go, whether natural disaster, or any emergency.

[Sprite518]

Can anyone can get a map of the temperatures of the water in the Gulf?

[sheikdetailfeather]

Honore says that according to the governor and mayor of NO they are not going to have people go to the convention center or super dome. They will bus them out.

[4everontheRight]

FEMA now saying storm will probably be a 3 possibly a 4 when it hits land

[CindyDawg]

Nah. I was with you. I've been following the posts:')

[maineman]

Any word on how this will impact oil production and refining yet? Have no fear:

[silentknight]

Water Temps at bottom

http://www.easternuswx.com/bb/index.php?showtopic=52737

[Petronski]

Excuse me, but there'd be no point in sending anyone to the Pooper Dome, it's a biohazard disaster area.

[Peach]

This storm is making a lot of people very nervous. It's a good thing for the mayor that he got people out of NO.

[Unknown Freeper]

I hope you've had a chance to get some rest. It looks as if you'll be on duty again.

[NautiNurse]

She was increased to Cat 2 before 2PM.

[Txsleuth]

Like a dem, you mean???

LOL

I am sure if he says something snide and it is recorded---someone will show it, like they did last night when he made the comment about how Adm. Allen isn't the Mayor, HE is!!!

I was watching Neil Cavuto earlier, and he had small pics of the 5-6 times that Pres. Bush has been to the Gulf area..especially NO...and he wondered, "With Pres. Bush giving so much attention to the Katrina damage, and going down there so often, and promising any and all help for the cities to be restored....why do his poll numbers keep going DOWN?"

My answer to the TV---because all people saw for 10 days were Shep Smith...and Geraldo and others standing on a freeway screaming about how BUSH let all those people suffer and die....

After all of the excitement was over..and the REAL truth started coming out...most Americans were watching the "new Fall Season" of TV programs.

[RummyChick]

I love Honore. Told them what kind of communication system they were going to use and that is all they needed to know about that right now. "OVER".

[numberonepal]

Yeah, it looks like they're starting to converge. But like I found in my analysis, at about this time for Katrina they were all pretty much converged on the Florida Panhandle. LBAR was an outlier that just happened to be right. Regardless, you are correct, we will indeed see.

[Flyer]

Ping to important evacuation info in #892

[Michael Goldsberry]

Last I saw on the GOM water temp was 85 degrees.

[Dog Gone]

Looks like San Leon just received a mandatory evacuation order.

[JFC]

I can Not STAND nagin.. he is a jerk and unprofessional..

[Petronski]

I see. I didn't know if Max Sustained Winds were the ones used to determine the category, or if some other wind measurement was appropriate.

She's still a Cat 2 now, I'm presuming.