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Today marks four years since Hurricane Rita blew ashore, September 24, 2005. Rita will go down in the history books as the most intense storm on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth most intense ever in the Atlantic basin. In our blog today we look back a the life of Hurricane Rita.
The storm system that would become Rita started off as a tropical depression that formed at the tail end of an old cold front just north of Puerto Rico in the western Atlantic. About a day later, on September 18, the storm would be named Rita as it strengthened to a tropical storm. It took a couple of days but Rita intensified into a category two hurricane as it passed the Florida keys on September 20 and moved into the southeastern gulf. Now that this storm was in the warm waters of the gulf there was no stopping this growing monster.
Rita morphed into a category five storm in a matter of hours, the second category five in the gulf that year; Katrina had just been there less than a month before. Now, little more than a day after becoming a hurricane, on September 21 Rita was being called the most powerful storm that forecasters had ever seen. Barometric pressure recorded inside the storm at peak intensity confirmed that Rita was the worst storm to ever be in the gulf and fourth most intense ever in the Atlantic basin.
Now, gulf coast residents were faced with a category five storm and after witnessing the catastrophic aftermath of Katrina, folks knew this storm could be deadly. Rita maintained the strength of category five for a couple of days before weakening to a four and then a three right before making landfall early on September 24, 2005 near the Texas/Louisiana state line. Winds in the storm packed 120 mph and a storm surge of 15 feet slammed into SWLA's coast.
This area had not seen a storm this strong since Hurricane Audrey almost fifty years before. The storm surge completely wiped out the Cameron parish coastline and affected areas as far north as Moss Bluff. Wind damage was widespread and almost every resident of SWLA had some sort of damage whether minimum or devastating.
Four years later the rebuilding continues. After another blow from Hurricane Ike, many residents had to start over a second time. Although we cannot tell when the next major storm will hit, we can be ready and prepared for what's to come and be ready to rebuild again.
- Meteorologist Kellie Hutchinson
Sunday, September 20, 2009 8PM:
We’re always looking for reasons to smile, right? Well I’ll tell you what’s got me smiling and hopefully it will make you smile as well! We’re in the peak month of tropical activity on average, and the tropics are quiet right now. Yes, no storms, no disturbances, nothing to talk about on this Sunday night. It’s enough to be able to take a nice breath of relief, but still we can’t be complacent. The waters are still warm and the atmosphere still moist. There are areas favorable for development but void of storms. Our disturbances lately have been ripped apart by a volatile atmosphere thanks to high wind shear. We throw that phrase around a lot, but just to redefine; wind shear is changing wind speed or direction, typically as you move higher in the atmosphere. High wind shear either means a big change in direction, speed, or both with height over a small area. Hurricanes need low wind sheer, or relatively uniform wind speed or direction with height in order to strengthen. We can thank many factors for our wind shear, but El Nino is one of the biggest supporters of increased wind shear across the Atlantic. We’ll keep watching the tropics for you during these remaining two months and two weeks (yes I’m counting). Meanwhile, enjoy the last day of Summer Monday. Autumn arrives at 4:11pm on Tuesday!
-Meteorologist Jeff Jumper
Saturday, September 19, 2009 4PM:
-Meteorologist Jeff Jumper
The busiest month on average in the Atlantic hurricane season is September, thanks to typically having the warmest waters, the least amount of wind shear, and plenty of disturbances moving off landmass coastal areas. So far, this September has not fallen into the average category, and it’s primarily due to the unfavorable upper level winds across most to the basin, thanks in part to El Nino. Right now, there are three areas of disturbed weather in the Atlantic. The remnants of Fred are being stretched into a wave and washed out with minimal chances for tropical development as they sit northeast of the Bahamas. A broad area of thunderstorms is sitting over 1,000 miles east of the Antilles continues to show influxes in thunderstorm activity. The storms are located in a marginally favorable pocket of low wind shear and could develop into a tropical depression in the next day or two. Another wave is exiting Africa’s coast and meandering NNW at about 10mph toward the Cape Verde islands. This cluster of storms does not look like it ahs much of a chance to develop in the next several days. Be sure to check out the tropical weather discussion video this weekend by clicking here.
MONDAY, SEPT. 14- 8:00 am
The remnants of Fred are still lingering in the central Atlantic this morning with not much chance for organizing. Upper level shearing still remains a problem for development as the system moves west-northwest. There is a small chance of some formation over the next couple of days.
All other areas of the Gulf, Caribbean and Atlantic remain quiet now.
Sunday, September 13, 2009 7PM:
It’s a year after Ike made landfall and today we are looking fairly calm in the tropics. Most areas across the Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean are looking unfavorable for storm development thanks to wind shear. Wind shear ripped Fred apart a few days prior, but he’s trying to reincarnate on this Sunday evening. Right now, the winds still don’t look very conducive for his re-development, but the area of showers and thunderstorms are becoming slightly better organized. The NHC is watching this area of storms, and they’ve put it at 30-50% or medium chance for tropical cyclone formation over the next two days. We’ll continue to monitor this area in the days to come. Have a great work week.
-Meteorologist Jeff Jumper
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