Rita vanishes from SSD position & intensity page

[soonertwister]

I've never seen this before, so maybe someone could provide me a cluebot.

SSD's Tropical Storm Satellite Position and Intensity Page has references to all kinds of tropical storms and invests, but Rita's position/intensity estimates have disappeared from the entire page.

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/positions.html


Anyone have any idea as to why this has occurred?

[Stratosphere747]

Change in classification?

[soonertwister]

They always have a listing of all the recent position/intensity estimates for each system, so re-classification alone wouldn't cause the previous estimates to just disappear.

I'm thinking there may be a glitch in the program that generates the page. It's a theory, but it's all I have to go on.

[bvigal]

Perhaps in the wake of Katrina, with another storm entering the GOM, it has become a sensitive issue and they don't want it published for news media repeating and misinforming/upsetting the public? "Users are reminded that the posted SSD position and intensity may differ from official information."

[soonertwister]

SSD says they are estimates and not official intensity products. I use them to see what numbers the satellite analysis yields as compared to the official products. Very often there are differences between the two.

[alicia-w]

It's back on there now.

[soonertwister]

And now all the data for Rita is back. There must have been a glitch somewhere.

Notice the very unusual current T-numbers (T4.5/1.5) for Rita. I can't recall seeing numbers quite like those before, but I'm no weather pro.

The satellite derived T-number is 4.5, while the system current intensity T-number is 1.5.