NYT: Rita is a Cat 2, expected to strengthen before hitting LA &TX

[unschooler]

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept. 20 - Hurricane Rita gathered strength as it beat a path toward the west today, graduating to a category 2 hurricane after starting the day as a tropical storm. Now lashing out with 100 m.p.h. winds, the storm is expected to batter Florida's southern coast and the Keys and potentially pose a new threat to the weary Gulf Coast.

(snip)

The storm is expected to strengthen once it crosses into the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes draw strength from warm surface water, so it is not unusual for a relatively weak Atlantic storm to roar to life as it crosses the warmer Gulf, where water temperatures have been unusually high all summer, said Abby Sallenger of the United States Geological Survey. This happened just over three weeks ago, when Hurricane Katrina, then a Category 1 storm, cut through southern Florida and strengthened to a Category 5 in the gulf.

(more)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/20/national/nationalspecial/20cnd-rita.html?hp&ex=1127275200&en=acf359cd0c679e86&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[flowomo]

1. latest from AccuW.... could be a 4 or 5 eventually....

"Rita should continue to slowly strengthen Tuesday night as it slowly moves into the Gulf of Mexico. Rita should become a major hurricane by Wednesday and could become a Category 4 hurricane. It is not out of the question that Rita could even become a Category 5 hurricane as it moves across the Gulf Wednesday night and Thursday."

http://hurricane.accuweather.com/hurricane/regions.asp?a=b&site=ATL

[NNadir]

2. Texas National Guard has been withdrawn from Louisiana, not Iraq.

Why is this not surprising?

[Massacure]

3. Should I be laughing or should I be crying?

[NNadir]

4. The only laughing I'll do is if it takes the asshole from Crawford's porch

There's a certain irony when the victims of a course of action are the same people who cause it, but the fact is, this is very frightening indeed for everyone.