Hurricane Rita

[utmt40]

This hurricane is going to be worse than Katrina. The pressure on this baby is already down to 904mb and it still has two days before landfall and is out in the open waters of the gulf. It it projected to make landfall in Texas. God be with you all.

[utmt40]

Here is a link for those that care...

Big [censored] storm (http://www.weather.com/maps/news/atlstorm18/stormtrack_large.html)

[utmt40]

Pressure is down to 899mb...This is going to be a record.

[Aytumious]

[ QUOTE ]
Pressure is down to 899mb...This is going to be a record.

[/ QUOTE ]

My little bro mentioned the pressure to me also. Could you explain or direct me to somewhere that will explain what that means?

[Pirc Defense]

No matter how large it is, at least the death toll won't even approach Katrina's level. If you get caught in this one, it quite clearly is just a gene pool cleansing.

[utmt40]

The lower the pressure the stronger the storm...So in other words Texas is going to be [censored] up.

[HopeydaFish]

This is going to be just about the biggest storm to ever hit the US.

Oh, and get ready for $5 a gallon gas. That's what they're forecasting due to all the oil rigs and refineries directly in the storm's path.

[Cumulonimbus]

So in other words, we're [censored].

[TomCollins]

Don't be so sure. Most models have it weakening before it hits land. It's still gonna suck, but its no Andrew.

[crosse91]

yea its supposed to be a 4 when it hits, it still may mess with my ACL plans.....grrrr

[SammyKid11]

[ QUOTE ]
No matter how large it is, at least the death toll won't even approach Katrina's level. If you get caught in this one, it quite clearly is just a gene pool cleansing.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for being an ass. My dad's staying in Houston because he has to broadcast through the storm. If something were to happen to him, I'll let you know he was "cleansed" - dick.

[Sykes]

[ QUOTE ]
Don't be so sure. Most models have it weakening before it hits land. It's still gonna suck, but its no Andrew.

[/ QUOTE ]

Andrew was small though (~75 miles across). This thing is massive (~250 miles across)

[MrTrik]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Pressure is down to 899mb...This is going to be a record.

[/ QUOTE ]

My little bro mentioned the pressure to me also. Could you explain or direct me to somewhere that will explain what that means?

[/ QUOTE ]

As the pressure drops the differential between the storm's winds and the non-storm winds increases. What this means is that more air rushes in faster and becomes part of the system.

So, lower pressure, higher speed winds as well as the bigger the hit both in size and destruction. Kind of like the air rushing in when an airlocked room is opened.

[Pirc Defense]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for being an ass. My dad's staying in Houston because he has to broadcast through the storm. If something were to happen to him, I'll let you know he was "cleansed" - dick.

[/ QUOTE ]

Time out. Clearly the comment was meant for those that decide to stay behind, with no duty to do so. Officials, cops, fire fighters...they need to stay to do their job. Media also plays a very important role.

God forbid if anything happened to your father, but it would be both tragic and understandable. If he decided to just hang around just because, then he'd be viewed differently.

[wonderwes]

My parents house is 21 miles from Galveston (2 miles from NASA). Its right off the lake too. So my house and neighborhood could be in the ocean by Saturday. From the projected paths, this is really bad.

My friends in Houston said the traffic was going for miles and miles and gas was sold out almost everywhere.

Now we just wait to see where it will hit.

[HopeydaFish]

[ QUOTE ]
So in other words, we're [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends what you mean by [censored]. If you mean that you live in Galveston and aren't planning on evacuating...yeah, [censored] is about right. If you mean that we're [censored] because gas prices are going to go up...well, it'll be like after Rita, where prices skyrocketed for a week or so and then started to slowly drop back down. They'll just have a lot farther to drop this time.

I went out and bought gas for both my cars this evening. If the price gets crazy on the weekend, I can drive one until it's almost empty, and then switch to the other one for a few days after that. Hopefully the gas prices will have come down by the time I need to go buy gas again.

I heard a weatherman on CNN say Rita may still be a category 1 or 2 by the time it gets inland as far as Austin. Is this fact or is just reporting in typical alarmist cable news fashion?

Would this require any preventative measures such as boarding up windows on the southside of the house and such?

[utmt40]

Rita now has max winds at 175mph and pressure is down to 897mb. This would be really bad to hit Houston because its population and home values are way more than what N.O. was. Population is around 5.5 million compaired to 1.3 at N.O.

[cbfair]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So in other words, we're [censored].

[/ QUOTE ]

Depends what you mean by [censored]. If you mean that you live in Galveston and aren't planning on evacuating...yeah, [censored] is about right. If you mean that we're [censored] because gas prices are going to go up...well, it'll be like after Rita, where prices skyrocketed for a week or so and then started to slowly drop back down. They'll just have a lot farther to drop this time.

I went out and bought gas for both my cars this evening. If the price gets crazy on the weekend, I can drive one until it's almost empty, and then switch to the other one for a few days after that. Hopefully the gas prices will have come down by the time I need to go buy gas again.

[/ QUOTE ]

This could be a bit of an optimistic view. Something like 30% of american crude and natural gas production comes from the gulf and much of our refining capacity is in TX and LA. Production facilities were significantly damaged by Katrina and only slowly coming back on line now, this process could take several more months or years to fully ramp back up. Now, a second major storm is tearing through the gulf and platforms have shut down and been evacuated in the last 24+ hours. Platforms will likely be set adrift, some may sink or be damaged as they run aground plus oil and natural gas pipelines on the sea floor could be damaged by the storm surge.

It remains to be seen how much production and refining capacity will be off-line after this latest storm or how long it will take to come back on line. I've read that in the 3 (4?) weeks since Katrina, refineries have intentionally focused on Gasoline/diesel production at the expense of other distilates to deflate the cost of gas. While this is surely an important move for the national economy's sake, it can't go on this way indefinately as there will continue to be demand for these other distilates (Naptha, Kerosene, lubricating oil, etc). Also remember that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was also tapped in the days after the storm to take up additional slack.

New Orleans is a big harbor and a major part of our international trade, Houston's harbor is much larger, in fact its the largest in the US and second largest in the world. A major storm surge could have the harbor off-line for some time, thus [censored] up the flow of our imports/exports. If you've ever worked for a small company that trades internationally, you know it can cause major headaches if that container or two of product your clients are clamoring for gets stuck on the docks; the quantity of cargo sent through Houston daily being re-routed for a week or more (conservatively) is much worse.

All this taken together, only weeks after another major hurricane could leave one to rationally determine that we are [censored]. How badly and for how long remains to be seen but we are indeed [censored] on some level.

P.S. Another thing weather geeks have been talking about is the lesson we recently learned when Katrina came ashore as a strong Cat3 but carried a major Cat5 Storm Surge. Evidently, it takes longer for those things to disipate than we once thought. Even if Galveston/Houston is struck by Rita as a Cat2-3, there could still be a major storm surge.

Weather Underground (http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/) is a great place to learn about these storms and to track their progress. Dr. Jeff Masters and Steve Gregory's blogs (linked about 1/2 way down the page) are updated 2-5 times a day and have been very insightful.

[WackityWhiz]

[ QUOTE ]
This could be a bit of an optimistic view. Something like 30% of american crude and natural gas production comes from the gulf and much of our refining capacity is in TX and LA. Production facilities were significantly damaged by Katrina and only slowly coming back on line now, this process could take several more months or years to fully ramp back up. Now, a second major storm is tearing through the gulf and platforms have shut down and been evacuated in the last 24+ hours. Platforms will likely be set adrift, some may sink or be damaged as they run aground plus oil and natural gas pipelines on the sea floor could be damaged by the storm surge.

It remains to be seen how much production and refining capacity will be off-line after this latest storm or how long it will take to come back on line. I've read that in the 3 (4?) weeks since Katrina, refineries have intentionally focused on Gasoline/diesel production at the expense of other distilates to deflate the cost of gas. While this is surely an important move for the national economy's sake, it can't go on this way indefinately as there will continue to be demand for these other distilates (Naptha, Kerosene, lubricating oil, etc). Also remember that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was also tapped in the days after the storm to take up additional slack.

New Orleans is a big harbor and a major part of our international trade, Houston's harbor is much larger, in fact its the largest in the US and second largest in the world. A major storm surge could have the harbor off-line for some time, thus [censored] up the flow of our imports/exports. If you've ever worked for a small company that trades internationally, you know it can cause major headaches if that container or two of product your clients are clamoring for gets stuck on the docks; the quantity of cargo sent through Houston daily being re-routed for a week or more (conservatively) is much worse.

All this taken together, only weeks after another major hurricane could leave one to rationally determine that we are [censored]. How badly and for how long remains to be seen but we are indeed [censored] on some level.

P.S. Another thing weather geeks have been talking about is the lesson we recently learned when Katrina came ashore as a strong Cat3 but carried a major Cat5 Storm Surge. Evidently, it takes longer for those things to disipate than we once thought. Even if Galveston/Houston is struck by Rita as a Cat2-3, there could still be a major storm surge.

Weather Underground is a great place to learn about these storms and to track their progress. Dr. Jeff Masters and Steve Gregory's blogs (linked about 1/2 way down the page) are updated 2-5 times a day and have been very insightful.

[/ QUOTE ]

A+ and a smiley sticker

I was born in lousiana down on the old bayou
Raised on shrimps and catfish mama's good gumbo
I got the ramblin fever said goodbye to ma and pa
Crossed that old red river and this is what I saw

I saw miles and miles of Texas
All the stars up in the sky
I saw miles and miles of Texas
Gonna live here till I die

[peachy]

yeah they are already evacuating a good bit of texas...a few friends of mine that live in houston are on there way here to stay with me

thier damage shouldnt be AS bad...being a lil over sea lvl and all

[tech]

I live in DFW and have friends all over the state of Texas. It is crazy here. Every hotel in the eastern half of the state is already booked, according to the news.

[CrazyPsycho]

Hurricane Penis?

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refresh/AL1805S_sm2+gif/023809P_sm.gif

[wonderwes]

You can watch local footage of the houston area off the NBC affilate's stream web video. Here is the link.

Its been reported that gas stations all over town are just completely empty. I have been talking with my friends on the freeways. He says its unreal. He has prob moved 2 miles in a period of 4 hours.

Streaming video link (http://www.click2houston.com)

[TxSteve]

I live in Houston and its pretty nuts.

I'm on the north side...so 100 miles or so from the coast. Even here; gas is sold out...and at the grocery store you cant buy water; baby food or any bread products (as of yesteray noon).

It is taking people 8+ hours to travel from the south side of houston to the north side because of traffic.

It is pretty unbelievable.

[STLantny]

Its a Cat 5 now. I heard that there was either going to be 10 billion worth of damage, or 50-100 billion worth, depending on the path, if it goes near galveston 50-100, if its a little west of that 10bil. But I havent heard the updated path?

[Broken Glass Can]

I blame Bush.

[tech]

[ QUOTE ]
I live in Houston and its pretty nuts.


[/ QUOTE ]

I believe it. I just heard from a friend of mine who is leaving Houston. He said he has gone 3 miles in 3 hours.

[brick]

I swear it looks like Rita is turning north.

[savman]

i beleive it is....from what i can tell New Orleans may get the east side of this beast.

[savman]

this is looking bad....i have heard reports that more than 6 inches of rain are going to blow out temporary levees. since i have experience in the field i can say there is a reasonable chance that is accurate.

[savman]

http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/tracking/at200518_strike.html

i think it is still to early to tell, but i am uncomfortable with the way this thing is shaking out.

[fsuplayer]

my flight to Colorado goes through Houston tomorrow morning.

i need to call continental. /images/graemlins/confused.gif

[jakethebake]

[ QUOTE ]
my flight to Colorado goes through Houston tomorrow morning.

[/ QUOTE ]

No it doesn't.

[lighterjobs]

msn (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9389157/) is saying that rita has gone down to a category four.

[LetYouDown]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
my flight to Colorado goes through Houston tomorrow morning.

[/ QUOTE ]

No it doesn't.

[/ QUOTE ]]
LOL, nh.