There is now talk in the meteorological community of what to name a Hurricane like Rita? Category five doesn't quite cut it. This Hurricane is extremely large 167% larger than Hurricane Katrina and it still has several days before landfall along the Texas Coast. The winds are clocked at 175 mph, which is the same as an F-3 Tornado, that is 35 to 40 miles wind and that is just the winds near the center. In fact there are Hurricane winds now out as far as 200-miles, whereas Hurricane Katrina was only 120 mile Hurricane wind swath. This Hurricane is at 897 mb making it number three in the strongest Hurricanes ever measured in the Atlantic Ocean. Hurricane Rita is pulling in rotating bands of severe thunderstorm weather from 480 miles away. What do you call a Category V Hurricane when it breaks the Hurricane Scale with 175 mph hour winds and 897 mb? What on Gods Earth can you call it to help describe the enormity of the storm? You call it a Super Hurricane, as the Typhoons, which break the Typhoon scales are called Super Typhoons. Well we are almost over the top on the Category Five Hurricane Scale. If a Category V Hurricane is 500 times more powerful than that of a category one and Category Five is 50 times greater than a category Four, then what the heck are we talking about here. "Houston we have a problem" and her name is Rita and she is much tougher than her half sister Katrina ever dreamed of being and she is on her way over. I propose a new terminology for such Super Storms, I propose we re-write the Saffir-Simpson Scale and add to it Category Six or Category Five SuperHurricane. You see Category 5 Hurricanes start at 156 mph and Hurricane Rita is ripping buoys out of the water and teaching them to fly at 175 mph, this is not a regular Hurricane, this is a Super Cat 5. Two previous Category Five Hurricanes are Andrew in 1992 and Camille in 1969. To give you an idea of what happens in normal Cat Five Hurricanes you get 25 foot storm surges (Galveston seawall is 18 foot), you lose ALL manufactured and mobile homes. Complete roof failure should be expected on nearly all buildings. They tip over Oil rigs, sink ships, take out bridges, knock over trains and if you have a yacht, you don't won't anymore. If SuperHurricane Rita as at full strength when it hits landfall there will be entire cities gone and Houston will never be the same again, got your checkbook ready, as this could bankrupt FEMA, Salvation Army and the Red Cross. Hurricane Katrina was nothing compared to what Rita could become. Think on this |
