Meterological Phenomenon
23 September 2005, 5:08 PM

Most folks following the weather in the U.S. are aware that hurricane Rita is bearing down on the Texas/Louisiana border at this very moment, and they've probably been inundated with information about eyewalls, storm surges, wind speeds, etc.

But there's another strange meteorological phenomenon going on right now, also associated with the hurricane. Just to the west and over central Texas - which will likely not see a drop of rain from the storm - hot, hot, winds have suddenly materialized, almost out of nowhere.

In fact, the National Weather Service has put out a "red flag warning" and "fire weather watch" for the whole area. A Red flag warning means that "weather conditions will promote fires that are difficult to control across the warned area." Fire weather watch means "weather conditions are expected to promote fires that will be difficult to control across the watch area." Essentially it's extremely windy conditions across a very dry area. And these winds are blowing like a furnace.

So what's causing them? It's a side-effect of hurricane Rita, as she sucks up air and causes humidity levels to drop while pulling up air from Mexico to central Texas. The crculation of the storm also causes high winds, even this far away from it. Those of us suffering from allergies and asthma have been having a hard time of the it the last couple of days beacuse of the air conditions.

So, in addition to flooding in eastern Texas, we might have to be concerned about the possibility of wildfires just to the west of it!