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Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Bloggers

By Jeralyn, Section Huricanes Katrina and Rita
Posted on Wed Sep 21, 2005 at 05:16:23 PM EST
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The Houston Chronicle wants local hurricane bloggers:

Do you have a blog, live in the Houston-Galveston area and plan to ride the storm out? If so, we'd like your help with an experiment in citizen journalism. We're launching a blog this afternoon called Stormwatchers. We'd like volunteers in key parts of the area with experience blogging to tell us what they're seeing as the Hurricane Rita comes closer, makes landfall and moves on.

We're particularly interested in bloggers who live in the I-45 South corridor; in the Freeport/Angleton area; and the southwest area, including Katy.

More details at the link above. [Via Romanesko.]

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    • Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Bloggers | 29 comments (29 topical)
    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#1)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    I enjoy blogs and blogging but I hope anyone in the path of a Cat 4 or 5 hurricane thinks more about evacuation than about blogging.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    well said JH. Let's hope this eyewall breaks up some, perhaps then she may not hit at Cat 5.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#3)
    by Che's Lounge on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    On some images it looks like it takes up the entire Gulf of Mexico.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#4)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    Che - That's what images of Katrina looked like a day or two before it came ashore over NO...

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#5)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    If the high in the center of the country moves east too fast it could pull Rita north before it get as far west as Texas...

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#6)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    At last report Rita has become the third most intense hurricane in terms of central pressure on record for the Atlantic, ranking behind only Hurricane Gilbert in 1988 and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#7)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:10 PM EST
    Jeeze..... let's hope that high stalls where it is for a few days...

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#8)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Remember when gas spiked to $3-plus a gallon after Hurricane Katrina? By this time next week, that could seem like the good old days.
    Michael Schlacter, chief meteorologist at Weather 2000, said Rita now appears most likely to hit between Port Arthur and Corpus Christi, Texas, sometime between Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. ... "We're already in uncharted territory now. We can't project what happens from another shot the size of Katrina or worse."
    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#9)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Well, let me cast the first stone. I've been watching the Interstates coming out of Houston, and they are jammed. Why they didn't reverse flow 80% of the inbound lanes, I don't know. Highly dumb. I mean that Bush is everywhere! Ernesto - and any weather/science types. Silver iodide is used to seed clouds to produce rain. If, early on, you seeded clouds in a hurricane, you should heavily increase rain. More rain would do two things. It would cool the sea water’s surface, which would reduce the moisture being picked up, and it would slow down the wind as it falls. The effects would feed on itself. Slower winds means higher pressure in the eye, less water pick up. Cooler water means less water pickup... etc., until it rains itself out. Am I nuts?

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#10)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Am I nuts? Maybe... maybe not. Look it up. Have fun. :) Mark T. Surmeier, Air Force Weather Agency, Offutt AFB, NE; and J. W. Wegiel Click on a program to view the sessions in that program

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#11)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    I am about 180 miles north of houston and they're saying on the local news that this thing may still be a cat. 1 when it gets here. All those NO evacuees that were in Houston are now here. We already had about 60,000. Now everybody is coming up this way. I45 into Dallas from Houston is slowed to a crawl and they're about to make both sides open to northbound traffic only. Y'all would not believe the massive amounts of people around here right now.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#12)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Oh...I meant to say that I-45 into Dallas from Houston is going to be one way for about 125 miles to the south.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#13)
    by Ernesto Del Mundo on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    PPJ...it's been tried before. Google "Project Stormfury". The attempts were never conclusively proven to actually have a measurable effect. I have a feeling that if any weather modification was attempted on hurricanes it would not be made public for the simple fact that the claim can be made that the seeding, etc. actually made the storm worse instead of better, or made the storm impact one area more than another. Imagine the litigation.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#14)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Yes, I-45 and I-10 both appear to be totally fu*#ed. I'm sitting in College Station with my wife and dogs preparing to be without power for at least 3 days, starting Saturday. Here's hoping everyone not already out of Galveston gets out today!

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#15)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Gig Em glanton...class of 1996...whoop! Is the game still on for sat?

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#16)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Ernesto - Thanks. I can see your point re claims..... I can see it now.... Channeling Rita.... ;-) Edger - You to. Some interesting stuff.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#17)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    peacrevol: They've moved the game to tonight, and President Gates sent out a massive email essentially begging people not already here not to come. The university and, indeed, the whole College Station/Bryan area, is going to be holding lots of Houston/Galveston people from what I can tell. Galveston. Wow. I tell you, it's days like this I thoroughly envy those with strong religious faith.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#18)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    syntactic correction: Gates doesn't want people coming here from out of town because of the football game. He is doing an outsdtanding job, in my opinion, preparing to accomodate those who come here for more essential reasons.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#19)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    glanton - When this is over with, buy yourself a small portable generator. Doesn't have to be large, just enough to run your fridge, a computer and some lights...and maybe a small portable a/c. And don't forget to have at least one phone that doesn't require batteris..

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#20)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Thanks, Jim. The Mrs. and I wish we had gotten a generator, but Luddites that we are, we do have a groundphone still, and they're telling us those will hold. You know, so there's a line for our mothers in Florida and North Carolina to tie up every ten minutes. :-)

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#21)
    by Edger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Jim: Edger - You to. Some interesting stuff. It is, isn't it? I suspect there is much more capability in the areas of creating, controlling, and modifying weather systems than we'll ever know. glanton: sitting in College Station with my wife and dogs preparing to be without power for at least 3 days Best wishes to you and your family. Take care...

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#22)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Glanton, get out of there. It's still going to be a hurricane when it gets to CS. They think it might be a cat 1 as far north as dallas.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#23)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    peacrevol: Nobody I know is fleeing here, they're not calling for it on the local news. Part of this might be because, as we've all seen, the interstates all up 10 and 45 are just thoroughly clogged. People here are just gonna have to hunker with our supplies and get each other through it. I don't know much about the weather here, (haven't been here that long) but from what I've heard the real danger is that tornadoes might spawn off. Well, we'll see. I'll say one thing though--the merchants here have way outperformed my expectations in terms of dealing with the crazy demand for water and dry goods, and there really hasn't been too much of a spike in prices either.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    best of luck glanton. peacervol there is no need to flee a Cat One hurricane. We had Ophelia come by last week here in SE NC, lots of wind and rain. losing power is by far the biggest concern. do get a battery powered radio so that you can keep yourself updated about possible tornados!

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#25)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:12 PM EST
    glanton - Biggest problem will be downed trees, so watch were you park your vehicles. Also, if you have picture windows, put some 1/2" 4'x8' plywood over'em for protection against flying objects. Also be prepared to find every leak in the roof and sides, plus streams that haven't existed since Noah was bringing'em on board 2 by 2.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#26)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:12 PM EST
    there is no need to flee a Cat One hurricane.
    but if it's going to be a cat 1 in dallas and it goes over college station it's probably going to be a cat 3 or so. College Station is 90 miles nw of houston. dallas is 220 miles north by northwest of houston. Glanton, weather.com shows that on sat. in B/CS the winds will be about 30 mph. Looks like it shouldnt be too bad on ya. It looks like the brunt of it will prbably go east of you.
    People here are just gonna have to hunker with our supplies and get each other through it.
    I dont know if you've been there long enough to experience the town much, but if any town knows how to come together to get each other through bad stuff its B/CS. Good Luck.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#27)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:12 PM EST
    One of my biggest concerns about this deal, besides people not being able to get out in time is, where are all these people going to go? Hotels and lodging is already virtually packed from dallas to shreveport due to hurricane katrina. I think people in houston and that area would probably do best to go to austin or san antonio. Seems like everybody and their dog is here already b/c we have NO and a lot of people from all over LA, and now Houston, Port Lavaca, Galveston, Texas City, Lake Jackson, and Beaumont are coming north. Keep in mind also that Houston is the third largest city in the nation. But I have relatives, cousins and uncles and such, that right now are on 1960 in Spring, north of houston, and they have gone about 2-3 miles in the last 2 hours. They've used a quarter of a tank of gas and all the gas stations are out. Once they get to 45, the traffic is still at stand-still.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#28)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:12 PM EST
    peacrevol: Yes, it's a big problem. I think what's happening is a lot of the towns along the way are doing what they can to hold people; it's not just hotels, you know. Here, Reed Arena will be an outpost among many. High school buildings, community college buildings, government buildings, churches, sports stadiums, concert halls all along 45, they're all, I think, going to play a part to help all these people leaving Houston.

    Re: Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Blogger (none / 0) (#29)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:12 PM EST
    The small towns dont have hotels and may only have a couple of large buildings. I think our rec center is about to start taking in people, but there hasnt yet been quite the rush as we had with katrina. I think by sat morning it will be though.

    Houston Chronicle Seeks Hurricane Rita Bloggers | 29 comments (29 topical)