Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Rita Intensifies, Heads West

Hurricane Rita "largely spared the Florida Keys on Tuesday. It has continued to strengthen, and widen the wind field, as it entered the Gulf of Mexico.

The good news for Pensacola is that the probability Rita will come within 65 nautical miles in the next few days has continued to drop. It is now at only 3 percent.

The bad news is that the Hurricane Center says early Wednesday morning "It would not be a surprise if Rita became a Category 5 hurricane in the next 24 hrs" and surely will be a Category 4 "later today." For Texas, there's more bad news. The consensus forecast calls for landfall somewhere along the central Texas Gulf Coast, including Galveston.


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