Rita... Here We Go Again (3 Viewers)

[george kaplan]

I asked my wife last night if any of her Houston relatives were leaving, and she called them, and they were all staying put. Today I get home and find that 11 of them will be staying with us, though God knows where they're all going to fit. My house is going to look crazier than the inside of one of those convention center shelters.

 

[Brian Perry]

While there's no doubt these are very powerful storms, I wonder about the measuring technology. When we see pressure measurements from 50+ years ago, were those recorded the same way? I assume today's planes can get much closer to hurricanes and many of this century's hurricanes were probably measured only at landfall. Plus, it's a great news story to say "4th most intense ever and may become #1." I hate to be cynical about it, but it is hard to fathom that we are witnessing two of the all-time greats within a couple of weeks of each other.

 

[Graham Perks]

From here http://www.weatherunderground.com/bl...ers/show.html:


I'm not the most scrupulous storm tracker, and certainly no expert, but do hurricanes ever actually stop and pound anywhere for a while? I know they can slow, but come on, someplace for days? I don't remember seeing a hurricane ever doing this.

Times like this make me wish they didn't build houses out of wood frames around here. Especially my house near Austin, TX

I wonder what sort of windspeed the typical wood-frame house (with brick or stone veneer) can withstand?

 

[James St]

Yup, Hurricane Frances last year took several days to pass through Florida traveling at only a few mph.

11PM Update

897 mb
Winds 175, gusts to 215mph

 

[Malcolm R]

Ophelia just spent several days harassing the Carolina coastline.

Mitch lingered for days just on the coast of Honduras, killing tens of thousands of people with massive flooding.

 

[Graham Perks]

Malcolm, just educated myself after reading your post. Thanks for the schooling.

See the track for the Great Labor Day hurricane was quite an eye-opener.

 

[James St]

 

[Colin Dunn]

Wood frame houses can withstand gusts of >100MPH without collapsing. I grew up in Boulder, CO, in a wood frame house with aluminum siding, and chinook winds coming off the mountains in late winter could hit 100-120MPH. No significant damage to the place I lived.

Seldom did these winds actually destroy houses, but certain in certain wind-prone neighborhoods, trees were downed and roofs were damaged.

Current forecasts for Austin still predict "only" 50MPH winds (with the occasional gust to the 70s-80s). If that is true, there won't be structural damage to many houses around here.

 

[Graham Perks]

Thanks, Colin. Very reassuring.

 

[Henry Gale]

Yeah I do get teased about that, especially after a twister I went through in Kansas....but that was years and years ago.

 

[David Brown Eyes]

I was looking at Rita this morning and thought that although it was a powerfull storm it was almost small in size, like Andrew. That last picture, Oh damn.

I think I have hurricane fatigue and I live in Denver.

I do hope it weakens. I have a friend who is evacuateing the area. he went to the harbor to tie up his boat and say good bye and headed north.

 

[Tim Glover]

I have several relatives in the Houston area and in Victoria. They are all driving up to Waco, Dallas areas and East Tx area to flee from Rita. Fortunately we have alot of family members in North Texas to provide some shelter.

 

[Chris Farmer]

They're now predicting 120 MPH winds here in Houston, and 100 MPH winds as far inland as College Station (~150 miles from the coast). We are so screwed...

 

[CapnSharpe]

I left Spring (just north of Houston) a few months ago and we were supposed to close on the house on Friday to a couple relocating from Plano. I tried calling my neighbors last night but all I got was answering machines. I know of one person riding the storm out in the Heights.

I can't believe this is happening. Where the hell is the khou webcast????

 

[JohnS]

XM Satalittle radio just said that it looks like the storm could "stop"/"stall" in Arkansas and do some damage

 

[Colton]

Just curious and maybe alittle crazy, but I had to wonder what would happen if we were to drop a nuclear bomb inside the eye of a catagory 5 hurricane while it was still way out in the Gulf. Would it just become a radioactive hurricane or would the nuclear explosion destroy the hurricane? Realistic or not - it would make a neat movie from this idea.

- Colton

 

[ThomasC]

From what little I know about weather and nuclear bombs, man has absolutely no short-term effect on weather. That situation sounds like a terrorist's wet dream. The winds would spread the radiation wherever the hurricane goes.

 

[Nils Luehrmann]

The latest estimated path for Rita now has it moving farther North with the eye striking land between Galveston/Houston and Port Arthur/Beaumont. This could potentially be disastrous for Galveston as it is more vulnerable to powerful southerly winds, which is what it would get should the eye pass just East of the Island. It was these same southerly winds from Katrina that pushed the water in Lake Pontchartrain with enough pressure to cause the levees in New Orleans to fail.

Like New Orleans, much of the area, including parts of Houston are vulnerable to floods. Those in the Port Arthur and Beaumont area and especially those along Galveston and Trinity Bay would be well advised to get out and head for safe ground.

 

[BrianW]

Here's an interesting article about Atlantic storm naming conventions, past and present.

"Brace yourself."

 

[Brian Perry]

The whole "limit" on names seems silly to me. Why can't there be a Xavier or Quentin, at least for an exceptional year such as this one? What possible harm would be done? I don't see the point of even having a naming rotation. How about this -- auction the names to the highest bidder, with the proceeds going to hurricane relief. (Though I'm not sure I'd want to see Hurricane Trump ).