Tracking the Tropics: Category 3 Irene Prompts East Coast Watches & Warnings

As of 8PM EST Thursday, Hurricane Irene continued to churn to the North-Northwestward at Category 3 strength. Watches and warnings are already being posted for parts of the US East coast. See below for the latest!

Here's the latest information on Hurricane Irene as of 8PM EST Thursday evening:

Hurricane Irene: 8PM EST Update

Top Winds: 115 mph

Minimum Central Pressure: 946mb

Moving NNW @ 14 mph

Located: ~530mi SSW Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

Conditions are prime for Irene to strengthen somewhat tonight. A turn to the Northward is expected sometime tomorrow. Irene is expected to hit Cape Hatteras, North Carolina Saturday afternoon and then begin to affect the New York tri-state area late Saturday into Sunday.

 

Current watches and warnings include:

A Hurricane Warning for the Northwestern Bahamas and much of the North Carolina coast.

A Hurricane Watch for the Virginia/North Carolina border North through Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for North of Edisto Beach, South Carolina to Little River Inlet.

A Tropical Storm Watch for Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point Northward.
Hurricane force winds stretch outward for 80 miles, but Tropical Storm Force winds extend about 290 miles.

Tracking the Tropics: Hurricane Irene Remains at Cat. 3 Strength, Turns North-Northwest

As of 11AM EST Thursday, Hurricane Irene remains a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale. Irene continues to batter the Northwest Bahamas today and then eyes the East coast of the United States. The East coast of Florida is experiencing some effects from Irene right now.

Here's the latest on Hurricane Irene as of 11AM EST Thursday morning:

Hurricane Irene: 11AM EST Update

Top Winds: 115 mph

Minimum Central Pressure: 951mb

Moving NNW @ 13 mph

Location: Currently Approaching Abaco Island

There is still the possibility for Irene to strengthen today and tonight. 

Current watches and warnings include:

A Hurricane Warning for the Central and Northwestern Bahamas.

A Hurricane Watch for the North Carolina coast.

A Tropical Storm Watch for the South Carolina coast North of Edisto Beach.

The mid-Atlantic states may very well see a Hurricane Watch posted later today.

Hurricane force winds stretch outward for 70 miles, but Tropical Storm Force winds extend to around 290 miles from the storm's center. 

Portions of South Carolina and North Carolina will continue to see increased surf and dangerous rip currents from Irene as the storm nears. The center of Irene is forecast to now be over Cape Hatteras, North Carolina by midday Saturday.

Tracking the Tropics: Irene Rapidly Strengthens to Cat. 3 Status

Hurricane Irene strengthened into a Category 3 storm Wednesday morning. There is still significant concern for the East coast of the United States to be impacted by Irene. Today, Irene continues its trek across the Bahamas. 

Here's the latest on Hurricane Irene as of 2PM EST Wednesday. Irene has strengthened even more since the 11AM EST update from the National Hurricane Center:

Hurricane Irene: 2PM EST Update

Top Winds: 120 mph

Minimum Central Pressure: 954mb

Moving NW @ 12 mph

Located ~65mi SE Long Island, Bahamas; 
~250mi SE Nassau, Bahamas

Current watches and warnings include:

A Hurricane Warning for Southeastern, Central and Northwestern Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Warning in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Hurricane force winds stretch outward for 50 miles now, but Tropical Storm Force winds extend to around 205 miles from the storm's center. 

Irene is now forecast to become a Category 4 storm by Thursday. US residents up and down the East coast should monitor Irene very closely. An updated forecast track is posted after the break.

Great Video of Last Week's Tornado Producing Storm in New York City!

Last week, on the night of September 16, 2010, two tornadoes and a macro burst, a stretch of 2.5 miles or larger that contains damaging winds, struck the New York City area. One tornado was in Park Slope, Brooklyn while the other hit Queens. These two tornadoes were only the 8th and 9th tornadoes to hit New York City since 1950!!

Here's some video of the storm that produced one of the tornadoes. It's really neat to see the storm move in so quickly and watch how conditions deteriorate so rapidly!

You may notice the "greenish" color of the storm. There's an old myth that basically says you should run indoors and hide anytime you see the clouds turn green because a tornado is coming. Even though last week this may have been true, a green color sky does not always mean a tornado is on the way.

That color sky; however, is associated with severe weather. What happens is that when there is so much water content in the clouds, as is the case in severe rain storms, the water molecules become so tiny and they bend the light waves. Simply put, that translates to a different appearance of the clouds to us on the ground. In many cases, that change in appearance is the green color you see here in this video!

Neat, right??

If you have any favorite videos from last week's dangerous storms or any storm, head over to the "Discussion" portion of this website and share it with the rest of us! You don't even need to sign up to post!

Let's hope the storms of last week's caliber continue to be as rare an event as they are!