Rita is going insane with the strengthening again: check this out

[Qibing Zero]

As posted by someone at Jeff Masters' blog:

http://www.ssec.wisc.edu/data/geo/east/

Select Water Vapor6.7
Select 8 image loop
Select High Resolution
Speed her up a bit
Select Rock


Just amazing. :wow:

[tgnyc]

1. ?English?

[Qibing Zero]

3. Go to the site,

mess the modifiers (as directed in my post) on the left hand side and top of the page, and then watch the animation.

[ClintonTyree]

2. What happened to the eyewall replacement cycle..........

it was supposed to go through? It's going out over cooler water now, it can't keep gathering energy from cooler water. That's what conventional wisdom says anyway.

[Qibing Zero]

7. Yeah, it seems this storm is defying logic even moreso than katrina.

The eyewall thing boggles me as well, and as for the water, I don't think it is THAT much cooler. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens.

[RONSTOO]

8. there is no such thing as cool water in the Gulf

the coolest is 84 degrees which is still warm

[jsamuel]

9. maybe cooler, but still very warm

esp. since the gulf stream has shown signs of slowing down this year. That leaves warmer water in the Gulf for a longer period of time.

Plus, it might be strengthening, but what this shows is that it is growing in size, not strengthening.

[DoYouEverWonder]

12. What cooler water?

The whole Gulf is hot has shit right now.

[karlrschneider]

13. Cooler is relative. It's a few degrees

Anything over ~80F is fuel for convection.

[phusion]

4. Shit you're right

just took all those steps you mentioned...It's like she's breathing.

:scared:

[obxhead]

5. She's growin' all right.

cool site too, thanks

[thefloyd]

6. jesus

that will make you dizzy

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. amazing image I must say

[ClintonTyree]

11. I think it's actually losing strength...........

it's starting to spread out more, it's not as tightly packed into the eyewall making it appear as if it's "growing". This happens during and eyewall replacement. The eye gets so compact it starts collapsing on itself, it will never be as strong as it once was. Just like a roller-coaster can't pick up energy after it's initial fall, it always loses energy after that.
It's still a very powerful storm and will hit land at about a CAT 3, bad enough to do a lot of damage. The storm surge, oddly enough, will remain that of a CAT 5 storm though, and that's the dangerous part. I think this is going to track further to the east than anticipated, that seems to be the pattern for the last few years. I'd say right around the TX/LA border or slightly eastward.
It isn't going to be good in any event.

[Qibing Zero]

14. I don't know...

The pressure has been falling once more, and pretty much every satellite image, which looked horrible earlier, is looking nice again. As I said before, I think we'll just have to wait and see.

[SomewhereOutThere424]

15. Heh, and consider something

Where was a lot of that contaminated water being pumped into? Does this hurricane have any risk of taking that dumped contaminated water and dishing it out aswell as its monsterous force? It pays to think ahead...