Hurricane Irene (Atlantic)

[NZstorm]

Hurricane Irene will be the first land falling hurricane in the US since Ike in 2008. It's expected to cross the South Carolina coast at the weekend. I bet lots of hurricane chasers will be converging on the state.

[03Stormchaser]

Hurricane Irene latest:
MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...110 MPH...175 KM/H
MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...962 MB...28.41 INCHES
STRENGTHENING IS FORECAST...AND IRENE WILL LIKELY BECOME A MAJOR HURRICANE LATER TODAY

more:
http://www.hurricane.com/hurricane-advisories/

[Tornado Tim]

Irene has traveled a long distance and still has a good bit to go according to the National Hurricane Center:

Expected to go all the way to Canada (even though in a Tropical Storm phase)!

[Richard]

On its current course and if it does stay near the coastline i suppose its able to remain a strong system for much longer,the water temps off NY must still be quite warm with will help it.

[Manukau heads obs]

yes, thats it, its going to be able to keep on feeding off the gulf stream

[Lacertae]

I've got an ex-gf called Irina, she looked beautiful from afar but geez the destruction she left on her path !
OK I go back to sleep ...

[4XKIWI]

Just wondering if u guys have checked out website stormpulse!

[iomkiwi]

Looks like theyre gonna have some waves up there, this is for Sat 10am local time, as forecast from http://www.predictwind.com, waves in excess of 10m

[Nev]

Irene looks to have weakened considerably overnight and appears to be spiralling out. Currently down to Cat 2, max 1-minute sustained winds of 160 km/h, central pressure still down to around 951 hPa (think the lowest was about 942 hPh).

Still a very serious threat to the eastern seaboard though, with storm surge flooding of 6-11 feet asl expected around the coasts of North Carolina...
.

[Manukau heads obs]

and rain...that is going to be one of the bigger problems....the noaa rain radar is picking up huge rain bands...

[Orion]

Some interesting information on this site:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/0 ... -irene/?hp

[mattyj46]

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-seve ... her-webcam

This guy is streaming live from Morehead City, NC , don't know if its the greatest idea but its great to watch.

[Manukau heads obs]

good station data here:
http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... =KNCTOPSA3

[Tornado Tim]

Flip!
Irene is expected to head towards the UK (even though in a Tropical Storm Sate)

What a long tracked Hurricane this is......

[stepr]

It is a long track but we have had Hurricanes reach closer than this before. I recall one nearly 10 years ago now that was Hurricane status all the way to the tip of Valentia (Ireland), they never seem to do much damage in the UK though, but they do waft in some warm, humid air.

It is an impressive track though, we sometimes get tropical depressions make landfall here in the UK, they're quite fun, it's been a while though. Hope the damage caused on the east coast of the US is kept to a minimum, but awe inspiring nonetheless

[Nev]

Just for the record, Irene made landfall at 11:30pm NZST last night (7:30 am local time) near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, as a Cat 1 hurricane with 1-minute sustained winds of 150 km/h and central pressure of 952 hPa...
.

[tgsnoopy]

Oh dear...

[jamie]

anyone know what the rainfall totals were inland? as it was happening i was hearing of 200mm+ over 24 hour periods.

[Manukau heads obs]

I saw reports of 300mm

[Nev]

Virginia Beach, Virginia and Jacksonville, North Carolina recorded just over 500mm, while 10 other sites in North Carolina, New York and Maryland recorded between 300mm and 400mm.

Scroll down to 'Rainfall Totals' in this 'Post Irene Advisory' from NOAA.
(At least some are 1-day totals; not sure about the rest?)

Coincidentally, several New York sites, plus a few more in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, had already smashed their August 1-day-rainfall records less than 2 weeks earlier.


P.S. Couple of belated sat-pics: First is Irene directly over New York and the other just 10 hours later...