Radar loop of Hurricane Rita making landfall near Lake Charles, LA
(graphic courtesy of WUnderground.Com)

 

 

 

Rita left a trail of destruction from the Florida Keys to the upper Texas and Lousiana coast. We flew 14 missions in this storm. Normally, September is by far our busiest month in the hurricane season, but this year we actually flew more hours and missions in July.

 

 

Rita explosively deepened just two days away from striking the Texas coast. ("deepening" refers to the pressure dropping lower, and the storm strengthening). Bottoming out around 897 millibars at its peak intensity, this was, for a time, the third most intense hurricane we've measured in the Atlantic basin (and moved Katrina to 5th place). Hurricane Wilma took the all-time record, and moved both Rita and Katrina one spot in the rankings, to 4th and 6th, respectively. While it weakened before making landfall, it was still a deadly and destructive Category 3 hurricane. This photo was taken along the edge of the eye by our test J-model aircraft, and you can see how the clouds are wrapped in circular bands, parallel to the winds howling around the nearby eyewall.