Hurricane Rita.........

[Tree Machine]

Guys and Girls,

I picked up on a developing cloud mass yesterday. I've got a very uneasy feeling about it. Yesterday morning it was barely a blip on the radar, and I still noticed it. The images below are the clouds in their absolute tropical depression infancy. The storm is below classification for a name Open up the following couple images. I have a very, very uneasy feeling for some reason.

If this develops, it will be our third hurricane in three weeks, Katrina, Ophelia and now, another system brewing in the EXACT SAME PLACE as where Katrina was born. Well, we'll have to wait another day or two and see. We will know within 48 hours. I'll keep you updated.

Please, please, please don't let this storm develop into a hurricane......

 

[Tree Machine]

got a pit in my gut....

The storm, it grows very fast you guys......

 

[Tree Machine]

The hair stands up on my back

Here it is, 18 hours and 24 hours after the first images I gave you.

You guys, the tropical disturbance has grown REALLY BIG since just overnight, in the dark, without the help of the sun. It is Monday morning, September 19. If this mass begins rotation today, south Florida and the Florida Keys are SCREWED in the next 18 hours. This is my fear, the storm is just growing too fast, and it's headed toward the warm waters of the Gulf. I believe it will tell of it's intentions by this afternoon.

 

[Tree Machine]

Noooooooooooooooooo.............

 

[Tree Machine]

The bearer of bad news

Monday afternoon, September 19, 2005.

Fellow arborists, I have some bad news for you.......

 

[Tree Machine]

Mother Nature's growing fury

Take a look yourself http://www.goes.noaa.gov/HURRLOOPS/huirloop.html
This system is moving real fast, like Katrina did. It will hit southern Florida this evening and tonight. The storm will be in the Gulf tomorrow, Tuesday, and once it gets done battering the Florida Keys and Southern Florida, it will move into the Gulf and it will grow.

Friends, this could be another huge storm event. It is giving every indication of it's potential. I don't know if this storm has been named yet, but I believe it will be a Gulf Hurricane by this time tomorrow.

 

[Tree Machine]

It could develop an eye by tonight, just a few hours away. The Keys will get pounded tonight.

 

[BostonBull]

Good luck TM and everyone else down there. Thats the last thing you guys need!!

 

[Tree Machine]

Hurricane RITA

She's been named RITA. She hit hurricane force at just after dusk, that being in the last two hours.

Can you see that the eye has formed? It looks like the tropical storm out east is waking up. I think I see an eye opening there too. :Eye:

It will be a rough night for The Florida Keys. This storm gave very little warning for evacuation. Let's hope it doesn't strengthen too much overnight.

One thing is for sure. The waters of the Gulf of Mexico are warm. This storm, so far, has followed in the steps, almost exactly as Katrina. I will be back with frequent updates.

What do they say?, Deja Vu' all over again.

 

[Tree Machine]

It's developing and will grow today

Tuesday morning. The newly-forming eye will pass a little south of the Florida Keys. This means the keys will get those right-uppercut winds, and take the brunt of this storm.

There have been official evacuations called on those islands, and most people are taking this storm rather seriously.

 

[Tree Machine]

What's happening in the Keys right now is not so apparent, but as Rita begins her entrance into the Gulf, the storm grows by the hour. Even the backside of the storm is growing. As Rita passes over far southern Florida, that backside area will remain in place. In other words, as the the storm grows, the backside area increases in quantity and magnitude and even though the eye is moving forward, the backside lags.

Even though this is another fast-moving storm, The Florida Keys will not experience the true forward speed of the storm, except for the increase in wind velocity. The Keys felt her as a tropical storm, experienced her at Category 1, and 2 (where she is now) and they could possibly feel her as category 3 as there are a lot of hours of sun left today.

There's no way to stop the progress of this storm. We have two days before it hits our Gulf Coast, little more than three weeks since Katrina's land strike. The only thing we don't know is where she will strike. http://www.goes.noaa.gov/HURRLOOPS/huirloop.html

 

[John Paul Sanborn]

Sa a prayer for Gigi.

 

[Tree Machine]

Major hurricane for the Florida Keys

Well, here's what our friend GiGi has got going on. Look at Noon's position of the eye, and that KW is in the right uppercut forces.

Now look at Tuesday evening. Look at how the eye has opened up. Look at where Key West is.....still in the uppercut wind zone. It has been like that for them for over 9 hours. But as said before, the storm is still growing, that backside will expand futher, keeping Key West in it's mainstream for many, many more agonizing hours as it grows to level category 3.


Basically, the worst possible place to be on planet earth today was the beach in Key West.

The sunset, this evening, was not impressive.

 

[Gopher]

Weather the storm

Our country needs a break from the record setting pace of the 2005 hurrican e season. While the cold can drive me crazy in the winter, I can at least live.

My prayers are with those tree people living in the south the past number of years...

 

[Tree Machine]

My prayers are with those a day and a half from now.

 

[Tree Machine]

Midnight. The Keys are not out of the woods yet.

 

[Tree Machine]

The pit in my gut has grown

Wednesday morning. It is STILL raining in the south of Florida and the Keys, the back end is still growing. We are officially at category three and moving into the warm Gulf waters. The keys are still stuck in that back end of the storm, but it will be over for them in hours. I finally caught some TV coverage this morning, and they said The Keys did not take on the full brunt of the storm. Ha! That means it wasn't category 3 when it got there, only when it was leaving. For what the storm had to offer in it's development, the Florida Keys got EVERYTHING Rita had to shell out.


Now, we arborist guys are getting to be pretty good armchair hurricane chasers. We can pretty much be assured of this Rita raising to category 4 today, as we have about 10 full hours of direct Sunlight. We know of the warm water fueling the storm; but what about warm temperatures in general multiplied by the number of hours in the day? The Temperatures in Texas today will top out in the low-mid 90's (~35-36 C.) There are so many 'heat factors' at play here that I think we should start playing out our Arborist emergency response role in advance of the landstrike of this one.

As of this moment, he true unknowns are where she will hit, and will she reach category 5 at the time of landfall? Category 5's are really quite rare when they strike U.S. land at that level. It does happen, but very, very rarely, like three or 4 times a century.

Andrew in 92 was Category 5 when it whacked southern Florida going east-to-west. Hugo up in the Carolinas. Iniki category 5+ hitting Kauai, Hawaii And..... I think we have to go back to Galveston in 1900 when a category 5 wiped the Texas Island of Galveston right off the map and claimed over 6,000 lives. Does everybody know where Galveston Texas is? Do you all understand that Galveston is a large and highly poulated island only a meter or so above sea level. Galveston also has a levee system, like New Orleans, where if your storm breaches or breaks those levees, your city is hopelessly screwed.

This storm is moving FAST, so we won't have to wait long for Rita to tell us where our next natural disaster will be.

 

[Tree Machine]

Wednesday, mid-morning. The Keys are out of the woods.

 

[pmuscato]

You called it TM, I hope it takes more the red line path then the blue one and spares Galv. and Houston.

 

[Tree Machine]

18 hours and counting

I hope you're right Muscato.

Here she is around midnight Wednesday. Full bore category 4. We will know for certain tomorrow where she'll land. For now, the waiting game and seeing if she'll increase during tomorrow's hot, hot day.

I'm noting her forward progress has slowed considerably. It's not clear whether that is good or bad. It's good if it gives the hurricane time to hang a more leftwardly course, bad if it moves slowly over a metropolis ad gives them a long ride like what Key west got, only at category 4 or 5. We will see.