Hurricane Update, 6:00 a.m. EDT

NOAA is giving a 13% chance of Hurricane Rita's eye passing within 65 knots of New Orleans between now and 1 a.m. Sunday. That could change, given the fickle nature of hurricanes, but it's still not worth sticking arounfd the wet streets of NOLA to take the chance. Galveston and Freeport, Texas currently have a 22% chance being hit. Galveston was wiped off the map and lost 6000 lives to the hurricane that hit it on September 8, 1900, still considered to be the nation's most deadly natural disaster.

Here's NOAA's latest advisory as of 3:00 a.m. EDT:

REPORTS FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE HURRICANE HUNTER AIRCRAFT INDICATE THAT MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS REMAIN NEAR 175 MPH...280 KM/HR...WITH HIGHER GUSTS. THIS MAKES RITA A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC CATEGORY FIVE HURRICANE ON THE SAFFIR-SIMPSON SCALE. SOME FLUCTUATIONS IN INTENSITY ARE LIKELY DURING THE NEXT 24 HOURS.

HURRICANE FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 70 MILES...110 KM...FROM THE CENTER...AND TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS EXTEND OUTWARD UP TO 185 MILES...295 KM.

THE LATEST MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE ESTIMATED FROM REPORTS BY THE HURRICANE HUNTER IS 897 MB...26.49 INCHES. THIS MEANS RITA IS THE THIRD MOST INTENSE HURRICANE IN TERMS OF PRESSURE IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN.

See Rit's most recent projected halo of influence here.