This is an image of the internal structure of hurricane Rita, using wavelengths that highlight the center of the storm. It shows the 'skeleton' of the storm and what you can see is a nearly perfect eye with a perfect eyewall and feeder bands. In theory, this is about as strong as a hurricane can get... Gilbert was slightly stronger and this one will probably be stronger too before it hits land. Hopefully it will diminish before landfall but unfortunately, storm surges do not weaken as fast as the rest of the storm... there is going to be a lot of talk of climage change, and it is impossible to say that this is the reason for these storms. However, we can say that the extremely warm water in the Gulf is a big reason why they are getting this strong. Whatever is going on... it isnt good for the coastline of Texas.