Quote:
|
Originally Posted by JumpinJesus
This is just un-freakin'-believable. I'm wondering if Rita will keep its strength while it hits landfall.
I feel especially bad for the people who were taken out of New Orleans and went to Texas. Now what?
|
Hurricanes generally lose all their strength when they hit landfall, because they can't feed on land. They start out really tiny in the Atlantic because the water of the ocean is pretty cold... this thing just blew over Key West with little structural damage. Problem is, now it's in the Caribbean Sea, which is currently about 90 degrees F. Hurricanes that rotate counterclockwise, like this one, feed on the motion of hot water vapor - air pretty much travels from the outer edges inwards, and when it gets near the eye, it goes up. With hot vapor pushing upwards, it pretty much pushes and feeds the storm... when it hits landfall, there's no more water to push the storm up/around, so it'll die out... I'm definitely not saying it's going to do this quickly, but once it hits land, it can't gather hot water vapor from the section that is over land - less go juice=less hurricane.
Analog is right though... I'm scared of how hyped up this thing is going to be before it hits landfall. With it going from cat 3-5 in one day... and it has 2 more days... ipe!