All indications are that RITA WILL BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE over the Gulf

[rabid_nerd]

According to the National Weather Service





The track is changing often right now (and these images will UPDATE automatically with current information!)...

I run DynaWeather.com..

MANDATORY EVACUATION OF THE FLORIDA KEYS

My weather website:
http://www.dynaweather.com

Also see:
http://www.weather.gov
http://www.skywarn.org

Never rely on information from the internet, including my weather site or weather.gov. Listen to a NOAA weather radio, your local TV or radio station for up to date evacuation orders and weather alerts.

[NYC]

1. Do those red dots indicate it will remain a category 2?

In the second picture, all of the dots indicating positions at specific times remain the same shade of red.

[rabid_nerd]

2. Actually, forecast to become a category 3 now.. It's pink

Link to National Weather Service Discussion

Basically, the dots are the graphical representation of (as of this moment):

FORECAST POSITIONS AND MAX WINDS

INITIAL 20/0900Z 23.7N 79.5W 60 KT
12HR VT 20/1800Z 24.1N 81.7W 70 KT
24HR VT 21/0600Z 24.4N 84.4W 80 KT
36HR VT 21/1800Z 24.6N 87.0W 90 KT
48HR VT 22/0600Z 24.7N 89.3W 95 KT
72HR VT 23/0600Z 25.5N 93.0W 100 KT
96HR VT 24/0600Z 28.5N 96.0W 100 KT
120HR VT 25/0600Z 32.5N 97.5W 35 KT...INLAND

Then coded by:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir-Simpson_Hurricane_Scale
Category 1 = 64kt/74mph
Category 2 = 83kt/96mph
Category 3 = 96kt/111mph
Category 4 = 114kt/131mph
Category 5 = 136kt/151mph

[NYC]

3. Thanks.

I guess subtle color changes elude me.

[Baclava]

4. Converging crayons

[Mutley]

5. She's a cat 5!