Hurricane Rita

Looks like she's running a bit south of Katrina's path, with expectations of slamming the Florida Keys, then crossing The Bathtub to hit Houston with extra energy pulled from the hot Gulf of Texas. :11:

Gawd, but I'd hate to be on the Overseas Hiway today. It's bad enough getting out of their on Sunday, but with a major evacuation - wow. I hope it's one-way out on both sides of the road, and I'm sure that many are being sent to Car Sound Road from Key Largo.

My Houston friends tell me that they have not had a bad hit since 1977 and today's general population doesn't remember how to prepare and survive. I guess that those over 40 who have lived there all their lives might, but the metro area has grown so much, it won't be the same. With much of the swamp we call The City of Houston below 20 feet elevation, I guess we can expect the possibilities that a storm surge to push water up the channel and bayous and flood the concrete jungle.

For quick advice, see: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
(1) Get ply-board, duct tape, tools, bottled water, canned foods, plastic sewage bags, bleach, etc. today!!
(2) Book hotels inland now for Thursday night - all weekend.
(3) Beat the rush out on Thursday. The escape routes may be full on Friday. Take the water, food, zip locks and sewage bags, and bleach with you.

How far does one need to go to escape flooding? I wouldn't know? I remember getting heavy rains from Karla in the 60s, and I'm 600 miles away, 3,000 feet higher...

Monday morning maps....

Could be heading to Houston, could be a bit further east than that and possibly even as far as NO again according to some of the current models. It sure seems to be a fast moving storm. Its also still a bit early to guess when it'll turn more north/northwest from its current westerly trajectory.

They'd make both sides one-way, although that is still only 4 lanes at best.

It could go east, west, south - who knows? Tomorrow will not be a good day to buy supplies in Houston if it stays headed for them. Today would be much better.

Dang, I edited my misspells in the original post, but could not change the title. Oh well.

I was wrong, Houston has not had a bad hurricane since Alicia in '83, and Carla was in '61. http://www.wxresearch.com/houhur.htm

I don't want to start ringing the alarm just yet but we'll definately be watching this one. I remember Alica and Carla. Nasty.

Dee, Mr Bill says: Texas.

Sorry.

I'll take his word for it.

if I'm reading NHC right, they're predicting it to strengthen to a category 3 in 72 hours, and it will still have some more time to spin over the gulf of mexico before slamming into texas? sounds ugly. i hope they're wrong...

latest discussion:

EVEN THOUGH RITA IS NOT YET A HURRICANE...CONDITIONS APPEAR
CONDUCIVE FOR IT TO BECOME ONE SOON...PRIOR TO REACHING THE GULF OF
MEXICO. INTENSIFICATION TO MAJOR HURRICANE STATUS OVER THE GULF OF
MEXICO APPEARS PROBABLE...GIVEN THAT THE DYNAMICAL MODELS ARE
FORECASTING A LARGE UPPER LEVEL ANTICYCLONE TO DOMINATE THE AREA
AND PROVIDE AN ENVIRONMENT OF WEAK WIND SHEAR. ADDITIONALLY...OCEAN
TEMPERATURES ARE QUITE WARM IN THE GULF...AND NOT JUST AT THE
SURFACE. THE NEW OFFICIAL INTENSITY FORECAST IS BASICALLY AN UPDATE
OF THE PREVIOUS ONE THROUGH DAY 3...THEN CALLING FOR A PEAK AT 105
KT OVER THE GULF IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LATEST SHIPS GUIDANCE. THE
GFDL AND FSU SUPERENSEMBLE FORECAST AN EVEN STRONGER HURRICANE OVER
THE GULF...AND THIS IS CERTAINLY POSSIBLE.

I just read on CNN that they are evacuating parts of New Orleans again. Scary scary time we live in. For those who are and will be affected, know you are in all of our thoughts. Stay safe.

Galveston is supposed to start voluntary evacuation tomorrow. I'm afraid this one is gonna be a doozy.