Direction is difficult to determine from satellite when a storm is just forming. There is just too much going on to know what is movement and what is the storm pulling itself together. If you look at the lower level banding out to the West of Rita, it does look to be heading just North of West. But the official track does take it slightly North of West and then it shifts more West. So a northerly component at this point is not outside the forecast. Stop looking at frame to frame, it is all about trends. Trends in movement and trends in the models.

Bill