Hurricane Rita remains an extremely dangerous hurricane

At 6:05 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, September 21, Hurricane Rita's Category 4 hurricane force winds were observed by NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite. According to the latest report from the National Hurricane Center at 11 a.m. EDT, Hurricane Rita remains an extremely dangerous hurricane. This image depicts wind speed in color and wind direction with small barbs. White barbs point to areas of heavy rain. The highest wind speeds, shown in purple, surround the center of the storm. The scatterometer sends pulses of microwave energy through the atmosphere to the ocean surface, and measures the energy that bounces back from the wind-roughened surface. The energy of the microwave pulses changes depending on wind speed and direction, giving scientists a way to monitor wind around the world. At 11 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, September 21, the eye of Hurricane Rita was located near Latitude 24.3 north and longitude 85.9 west, or about 755 miles east-southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas. Rita is moving toward the west near 13 mph, and that motion is expected to continue for the next 12-24 hours. Image Credit: NASA JPL