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Hurricane Rita landfall was at 2:38 am September 24, 2005 as a Category 3. Landfall was just east of Sabine Pass on the Texas and Louisiana line.
Rita continued north and passed through north east Texas and was downgraded to tropical storm strength. It brought down many tree branches and tree limbs. The driveways and streets were littered with small green tree branches.
Stormwise has developed an experimental long range lightning sensor (long item at right in photo above, with blue label) for monitoring hurricane Rita as it approaches land. We put this sensor in the same weather-proof case with binding posts as our standard LSU_3B lightning sensor. (standard LSU_3B lightning sensor available). We will be placing the data online when the storm is over, that is if the long-range system works as intended. Hurricanes usually do not have very much lightning activity. The sensor at left with the 3-cups is the wind-speed sensor.
The hurricane Rita Lightning Sensor is connected indoors to a computer that graphes and counts the lightning flashes. The sensor should have a range of more than 300 miles when mounted on a 15 foot pole. This is a new sensor that has not yet been tested and was quickly designed just for monitoring Rita. Rita passed by and the sensor did detect some lightning in Hurricane Rita.
The table of lightning data is located HERE. Not much lightning was detected in Rita.
Because this was an experimental lightning sensor we do not know the exact detection range (in miles) so the sensor is being left alone and the detection range and other factors investigated as weather permits: looking for storm activity south and east (where hurricane Rita passed by) to check the performance.
We installed the Hurricane Rita Lightning Sensor (top of pole) and the WS-9035TWC wind speed sensor on the same 15-foot pole.
The maximum wind gust we recorded was 18.3 MPH. This is largely due to the fact that the instrument was surrounded by trees. Wind gusts through the tops of the trees were likely 30 to 50 MPH and would come in "waves" which could be seen at a distance as it blew through the tops of the trees. Wind gusts at ground level were recorded by a second pocket sized instrument and reached 20.0 MPH at 5-feet above ground level. The wind was strong enough to blow an umbrella inside out, if that means anything as an additional measurement.....
The wind was not a steady wind and it would come in gusts. Many times there were lulls of almost no wind with just light drizzle. The clouds could be seen racing south (counter clock-wise) at a constant high speed, likely 60 to 70 MPH. The temperature dropped down near 70 F. The humidity was at or near 100%: A window was opened to allow the tropical breezes from Rita into the offices and eventually the papers became very damp from the humidity.
The WS-9035TWC will monitor hurricane Rita maximum wind speed as it passes through. (We have this model available for sale). The unit has a max wind memory storage with time stamp and updating max gust measurement and a beaufort wind scale graph and windspeed updating.
We setup this barograph recorder to monitor the pressure drop as hurricane Rita passes through east Texas / west Louisiana. We will post the chart record on this page when the storm has past.
Stop time was 5PM.
------------9-21-2005------------(Wednesday)
12 pm 30.03
3 pm 30.04
6 pm 30.04
9 pm 30.04
--------------9-22-2005----------(Thursday)
12 am 30.04
3 am 29.89
6 am 29.89
9 am 29.92
12 pm 29.91
3 pm 29.83
6 pm 29.79
9 pm 29.82
----------9-23-2005-----------(Friday)
12 am 29.84
3 am 29.86
6 am 29.86
9 am 29.91
12 pm 29.88
3 pm 29.80
6 pm 29.77
9 pm 29.80
----------9-24-2005----------- (Saturday)
12 am 29.78
3 am 29.71
6 am 29.67
9 am 29.63
12 pm 29.57
3 pm 29.43
6 pm 29.40
9 pm 29.45
--------9-25-2005------------- (Sunday)
12 am 29.52
3 am 29.58
6 am 29.66
9 am 29.75
12 pm 29.79
3 pm 29.76
6pm 29.75
9 pm 29.79
--------------9-26-2005 (Monday)
12 am 29.82
We recorded the barometric pressure once per hour as hurricane Rita (down-graded to tropical storm Rita) approached and passed by:
-----------9-22-2005 (Thursday)
4 pm 29.81
5 pm 29.79
6 pm 29.79
7 pm 29.79
8 pm 29.80
9 pm 29.81
10 pm 29.83
11 pm 29.84
------------9-23-2005 (Friday)
12 am 29.84
1 am 29.85
2 am 29.86
3 am 29.86
4 am 29.86
5 am 29.86
6 am 29.86
7 am 29.87
8 am 29.90
9 am 29.91
10 am 29.91
11 am 29.92
12pm 29.90
1 pm 29.88
2 pm 29.85
3 pm 29.81
4 pm 29.80
5 pm 29.78
6 pm 29.77
7 pm 29.78
8 pm 29.78
9 pm 29.80
10 pm 29.80
11 pm 29.78
------------09-24-2005 (Saturday)
12 am 29.77
1 am 29.76
2 am 29.73
3 am 29.71
4 am 29.70
5 am 29.68
6 am 29.68
7 am 29.67
8 am 29.65
9 am 29.64
10 am 29.61
11 am 29.60
12 pm 29.58
1 pm 29.54
2 pm 29.50
3 pm 29.44
4 pm 29.42
5 pm 29.41
6 pm 29.40
7 pm 29.39
8 pm 29.40
9 pm 29.47
10 pm 29.50
11 pm 29.52
----------------09-25-2005 (Sunday)
12 am 29.54
1 am 29.56
2 am 29.58
3 am 29.59
4 am 29.62
5 am 29.65
6 am 29.68
7 am 29.72
8 am 29.74
9 am 29.76
10 am 29.79
11 am 29.79
12 pm 29.79
1 pm 29.78
2 pm 29.77
3 pm 29.75
4 pm 29.75
5 pm 29.75
6 pm 29.76
7 pm 29.78
8 pm 29.78
9 pm 29.80
10 pm 29.81
11 pm 29.81
--------------09-26-2005 (Monday)
12 am 29.82
1 am 29.82
2 am 29.83
We will be monitoring Hurricane Rita's rainfall with our WS-7038UF wireless rainguage.
We recorded 1.83 inches total for Rita. It did not rain hard, the rain came in as light drizzle and small drops blown by the occasional gusty winds.