STILL WATCHING RITA

Early this morning, I posted a sentence from the 5:00 AM Discussion on the National Hurricane Centre site regarding the possible intensification of Hurricane Rita. It read:

IT WOULD NOT BE A SURPRISE IF RITA BECAME A CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE IN THE NEXT 24 HRS BEFORE WEAKENING SOMEWHAT DUE TO A CONCENTRIC EYEWALL CYCLE OR THE LOWER OCEAN HEAT CONTENT WEST OF THE LOOP CURRENT.

It seems rather prophetic now, as Rita has grown into a Catagory 5 storm, the fifth strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Basin on record. Many of the computer models are coming into agreement that this dangerous hurricane will eventually make landfall early Saturday along the central Texas coast, as a Catagory 4 or 5 storm.

The Houston/Galveston metro area would be in the northeast quadrant, traditionally the strongest and most dangerous area of a tropical system to be in. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for Galveston and areas of the Houston area near Galveston Bay and the Houston Ship Channel.

If you're interested in keeping up first hand with Rita's approach and affect on the Space City, here are a few media sites you may want to check out:

The Houston Chronicle Rita Blog
KPRC-TV 2 (NBC affiliate)
KHOU-TV 11 (CBS affiliate)
KTRK-TV 12 (ABC affiliate)
KTRH-AM 780 (News/Talk radio)
KSEV-AM 700 (News/Talk Radio)