Will Hurricane Rita be Another Katrina?

[Edisonian]

The latest report indicates that Rita (once a tropical storm) is now upgraded to a major category 3 hurricane. It’s headed toward the Gulf region just like Katrina did. They say it may it Texas, but Louisiana or even northern Mexico may also get hit.

 

I wonder whether global warming has something to do with the increased frequency and intensity of recent storms.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

According to the latest conspiracy theories, it's the Russians doing it (Katrina is supposedly a Russian name, like Ivan)!!

 

But more seriously, there have been quite a few recent news articles saying that global warming is related to hurricane frequency. I don't know how true they are (a google news search turned up environmentalist sites), so I'll wait until it's in a nice science journal.

[CPL.Luke]

rita is a cat 5 now with winds of 165. It is the third largest hurricane on record

[JPQuiceno]

Holy Shit.

 

I must say this, because it irritates me so (excuse my language) ****ing much.

 

A group of christians that I know, say that this is the will of "God". He is punishing them for their sins.

 

I just realized, that Christianity is one of the crulest ****ing things I know. These people are crazed in saying that they deserve this.

 

I seriously get angry and feel like punching them in the face.

 

/venting off

[Obnoxious]

It's suppose to be worse, because Katrina just hit a corrupt town, but Rita is planned to destroy Galveston and in doing so, knock out 1/4 of America's oil producing industries. Expect a ridiculous oil hike boys!

[Guest malignant]

I just returned home to Houston a few hours ago after staying with my brother for a few days. So i thought I would share my thoughts on this storm.

 

I feared that Galveston island would be utterly destroyed when the storm was a category 5 with 175 mph winds and a stunningly low 897 mb central pressure. I live near the downtown area so although I was not in danger from storm surge, the high winds could have been dangerous, and the idea of being stuck in 100 degree heat with no electricity for days if not weeks was not appealing. So I left town.

 

In recent years, global hurricane activity has actually taken a downturn. It is only the Atlantic basin that is showing above normal activity. This was also forecasted by climatologists at the start of the hurricane season.

 

To answer Edisonians question, in my opinion global warming is not related to this storm. To my knowledge most if not all measured warming has occured in cold and dry regions over land (Siberia comes to mind). Secondly, the Gulf of Mexico is already a very warm body of water and the temperature fluctuates somewhat as it is due to the presence of the gulf stream. Thus it seems unlikely that a small increase in water temperature would be the reason for the storms intensity or for the frequency of the storms. Lastly, the sun has a more direct effect on water temperature than does the air. I would be quicker to blame fluctuations in the sun's output than warmer air.

 

This storm in particular was powerful as it was due to to the near perfect atmospheric conditions that existed at the time. Lack of windsheer, warm humid air, warm water, etc. It should be noted that the storm weakened to a category 3 even as it crossed over an even warmer portion of water than it was previously in.

[dragono]

I heard it was strangly mild in deaths and damage and the newspaper called it the shadow of a monster :/

[ecoli]

don't worry about gas prices guys. Most of the major refineries are undamaged.

 

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aBmkZU4NV1JE&refer=news_index

[Pat Says]

Holy Shit.

 

I must say this' date=' because it irritates me so (excuse my language) ****ing much.

 

A group of christians that I know, say that this is the will of "God". He is punishing them for their sins.

 

I just realized, that Christianity is one of the crulest ****ing things I know. These people are crazed in saying that they deserve this.

 

I seriously get angry and feel like punching them in the face.

 

/venting off[/quote']

Yeah, apparently there is a direct correlation between the amount of sin and bad weather. You might want to check your local sin index. lol, the sin count is high today, expect severe thunderstorms.

[ed84c]

Texas people are white, and hence bush cares what happens to them, so no, it wont.

 

[/cynisism]

[Pangloss]

Most people who were affected by Katrina were white as well.

 

[/realism]

[Douglas]

A group of christians that I know' date=' say that this is the will of "God". He is punishing them for their sins.

[/quote'] Hmmm, how many people were in this group?

[Douglas]

Yeah, apparently there is a direct correlation between the amount of sin and bad weather. You might want to check your local sin index. lol, the sin count is high today, expect severe thunderstorms.

How do they measure the sin index? Is it similar to the pollen count....PPM?

[Pangloss]

The new Doppler sin radar is the best. You can see the sin accumulating around porn stores and disapating around churches, etc.

 

It's still a little problematic dealing with "ground clutter" from red light districts, though.

[Pat Says]

How do they measure the sin index? Is it similar to the pollen count....PPM?

Yeah its in PPM, Evangelists take samples of the air and find the heathen to believer ratio. And the greater the homosexuality index the worse weather feels , kinda like with humidity and how it feels hotter.

The new Doppler sin radar is the best. You can see the sin accumulating around porn stores and disapating around churches' date=' etc.

 

It's still a little problematic dealing with "ground clutter" from red light districts, though.[/quote'] Lol, that's so ridiculous.