Twin States Weather Blog

Rita Bearing Down

* Been a very busy day today (I suppose its formally "yesterday") - began by meeting up with a truckload of supplies courtesy of our friends from Canada. One-third of the supplies were unloaded at Wesley House in Meridian, while the rest of the shipment was taken to the Mississippi Gulf Coast later in the afternoon. Certainly want to pass along our thanks to the folks who made the shipment possible...

* Rita is maintaining its' strength as it plows through the Gulf of Mexico. All indications are that it will make landfall somewhere along the upper Texas or southwest Louisiana coastline late Friday or early Saturday. If this track verifies, we will not have much of an impact on our weather - a little breezy, some showers and thunderstorms, but certainly nothing on the scale of what we saw with Ivan, Dennis, or Katrina. The greatest threat here would come in the form of isolated tornadoes associated with the outermost feeder bands from Rita. That's something we'll watch.

* Here is the latest VORTEX report from the recon flight:

000
URNT12 KNHC 230618
VORTEX DATA MESSAGE
A. 23/06:02:10Z
B. 26 deg 28 min N
090 deg 42 min W
C. 700 mb 2441 m
D. NA kt
E. NA deg 000 nm
F. 217 deg 113 kt
G. 134 deg 022 nm
H. 924 mb
I. 14 C/ 3043 m
J. 17 C/ 3048 m
K. 15 C/ NA
L. CLOSED
M. C32
N. 12345/ 7
O. 0.02 / 1 nm
P. AF309 2018A RITA OB 28
MAX FL WIND 132 KT NE QUAD 03:31:30 Z
FL TEMP 18 C, 131 / 12NM
EYEWALL THIN E-SW

* Rita continues to go through eyewall replacement cycles. These seem to be inhibiting much intensification. Also aiding in the lack of intensification is the fact that Rita has been traversing over some cooler water in the Gulf. It will soon move back over warmer water, however, and some slight strengthening is possible during the next 6-9 hours. After that, it will begin to approach the coastline and a slow weakening trend should begin. However, all indications are that Rita will make landfall as at least a Category Three, perhaps a Category Four hurricane. Also, it will have surge consistent with a Cat 5. So, if you have friends or family along the TX/LA coastline - between Galveston and Morgan City, Louisiana, please urge them to evacuate as soon as possible. Time is running out for evacuations.

*

posted by WTOK Weather Staff @ 2:16 AM