Two category 5 hurricanes in matter of weeks. Hard to believe. Yet the satellite shots and the dropsonde numbers do not lie.

Rita is not just a cat 5 storm tonight..it is a STRONG Cat 5 storm. Fortunately hurricanes do not tend to stay at this level for long and I suspect it will be a 4 at landfall…maybe even down to a 3 (Let’s hope so)

If it comes ashore as a strong 4 like Katrina, we are talking damage in the Billions. Even more worrying is the late model runs tonight which are hinting strongly at a path closer to Galveston. If it hits Port Lavaca to the SW then we are looking at a 10 Billion dollar storm. Put Galveston and Houston as the landfall and the price goes up to 50 Billion. (and the cost of Gasoline goes to $5/gallon)

It is certainly a Texas storm but the only other thing for sure tonight is that after it hits I will get a ton of emails with the same pictures of an Iowa tornado telling me that they were from a friend and the pictures are of Rita at landfall. I get so many of them everyday now (Supposedly katrina Pics) I just have taken to replying with the word “HOAX” and my initials. (Last year they were supposedly from Ivan)

Not sure why those pictures bother me so much. Maybe it is because I want people to look at what they are sent with a cautious eye and not believe everything they are told… Maybe that is the science training that was engrained in me at OU.

Still, I have yet to get the letters and emails that always follow a great disaster from people who:

A. Think this is a communist, or Alqueda plot.

B. Have a way of controlling these storms that the government is preventing from development and they would just develop themselves with a loan of 2- 3 million.

C. Are true seers of the future and predicted it a year ago.

D. A sign from God that the end is near!

But they are coming.. I can feel it… as a matter fact, I predicted them a year ago.

If you have relatives on the Texas coast.. tell’em to get the he** out of Dodge.

Later,
Dan