3:00 PM | Irene continues to head towards the east coast
Paul Dorian
Discussion
Hurricane Irene continues to close in on the east coast and should make landfall in eastern North Carolina on Saturday morning likely as a category 2 hurricane. The latest measured sustained winds are 100 mph with gusts to 125 mph, and its current direction is due north at 13 mph. After landfall in North Carolina Irene should generally ride up the Mid-Atlantic coast reaching the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay by Saturday evening and then to near Atlantic City, New Jersey by Sunday morning likely as a category 1 hurricane. From there Irene will head to right over or near New York City on its way to interior sections of New England. The brunt of the storm here in the Mid-Atlantic region will contain torrential rains and damaging winds and should last up to about 12 hours. Note - there will be some occasional showers and thunderstorms ahead of the main event from late tonight through tomorrow morning and some of that rain can fall heavy at times. In the DC metropolitan region this main part of the storm should occur from about mid-to-late afternoon on Saturday into early Sunday, in the Philly region from around early Saturday night through much of Sunday morning and in the New York City region from Saturday night through mid-day Sunday. A summary of the expected rainfall amounts and peak wind gusts follows with numerous power outages and flooding problems expected throughout the Mid-Atlantic region:
DC, 2-5 inches, 50-70 mph peak gusts (the higher amounts from DC and points to the east) Philly, 5-10 inches, 60-80 mph peak gusts NYC, 8-12 inches, 60-80 mph peak gusts
Video
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ptp7ueuxHo