Rita Watch: Advisory 11

Unless Rita makes a sudden lurch to the west, Austin won't even get any rain. The forecast for tomorrow is a 20% chance. Houston could see some flooding from heavy rains, but it looks like Houston will be on the safe side of the storm. Right now Rita looks like she's going to come inland almost right at the mouth of the Sabine River which is the state line between Texas and Louisiana.

For cities that are inland from the beach, the real problem will be tornados. Hurricanes set off lots of tornados as they start to pass over land. According to an AP story, a meteorologist in Lake Charles, La. said he could not keep count of the tornado warnings across southern Louisiana, "They were just popping up like firecrackers." This hurricane will probably also cause a lot of flooding, and East Texas (no that's not eastern Texas. Only furriners would say that.) is a place that already has all the rainfall it needs. Lots of pine trees in East Texas. In fact, Texas has a pretty large lumber industry, and it's located right where Rita is headed.

Well, in about 8 hours Rita will be on Texas soil. We sure are a hospitable folk aren't we? We can put up with some really rude visitors.