Varying winds
Two days before landfall, Rita was the stronger storm, with sustained wind speeds of 270 kilometres per hour against Katrina’s 184 km/h. But one day before landfall things reversed, with Katrina blowing at 256 km/h and Rita at 224 km/h. On landfall, Katrina was the stronger and larger of the two. Rita had weakened partly because it passed over patches of cooler water, which slows air convection and reduces storm ferocity
Storm surges
Both hurricanes produced storm surges of around 6 metres, a level associated with a category 5 hurricane
Off track
Until the very last moment, Rita…
