Rita: It's Time to get Serious

To my fellow Houstonians and other locals. I would listen to Eric. This is not a storm to mess with.

If today began with a glimmer of hope for Houston, it has ended rather poorly.

The evening's last update for Hurricane Rita shows a powerful category-4 hurricane, with 145 mph winds, coming ashore between Matagorda and Freeport. If anything, the official track has nudged closer to the Houston metro area tonight.

As I wrote several months ago, this is very nearly a worst-case scenario for Houston.

If there is a reason to hope for those of us living in the greater Houston area, it's the fact that Rita still lies more than three full days away from land. Wide uncertainty remains in the forecast, and, if anything, some of the models are yet diverging.

Considerable uncertainty also remains in the intensity forecast, as Rita could still come ashore as a weaker storm.

However, it should now be abundantly clear to everyone along the middle and upper coasts of Texas that a very powerful hurricane is headed our way. The time for drinking a margarita to Rita has ended. It's time to be serious.