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IRENE NEARING LANDFALL IN NORTH CAROLINA
8/27/2011 — 5:36 a.m. ET


This is a storm that poses an extraordinary threat and is one that no one has yet experienced in the Northeast and New England.

Hurricane Irene should make landfall this morning between Morehead City and Hatteras near Ocracoke Island as a borderline category 1 or 2 hurricane.

As of 5 a.m. Eastern Time Saturday, Irene is a category 1 hurricane with top winds near 90 miles per hour.

The center of Irene is located about 35 miles south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, or about 95 miles southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and is moving to the north-northeast near 14 miles per hour.

The center of Irene is forecast to cross through the North Carolina Sounds, through the Outer Banks, and back into the Atlantic today, then riding up the coast with an eventual landfall anticipated on Sunday along Long Island then on the other side of Long Island Sound in Southern New England as a minimal hurricane.

Tropical-storm-force winds will continue to spread up the coast and inland across parts of North Carolina and Virginia, with hurricane-force winds moving onto the North Carolina Coast near the Sounds and along the Outer Banks.

Tropical-storm-force winds will also spread up into the Delmarva Peninsula and into parts of the Mid-Atlantic by tonight, with hurricane-force winds near the coast.

Tropical storm and hurricane force winds will make their way into southeastern New York (including New York City) and Long Island by Sunday morning, and into southern parts of New England.

Once Irene moves inland, tropical-storm-force winds should spread across much of New England on Sunday into Sunday night.

Along the coast, a storm surge (water level rise) between 5 to 9 feet is expected in North Carolina, with waves on top of that water level rise.

Further up the coast from the North Carolina/Virginia border to Cape Cod, a water level rise of 4 to 8 feet, with higher waves, can be expected.

Dangerous surf, deadly rip currents, beach erosion, and ocean over wash can be expected from North Carolina northward until Irene moves out.

Hurricane warnings are in effect from Little River Inlet, North Carolina (near the South Carolina border) north to Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts: this includes Pamlico, Albemarle, and Currituck Sounds, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay south of Drum Point, New York City, Philadelphia, Long Island, Long Island Sound, coastal parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket.

Tropical storm warnings are in effect along the South Carolina Coast between South Santee River and Little River Inlet; Chesapeake Bay from Drum Point northward and the Tidal Potomac (including Washington, D.C., and Baltimore); and the Massachusetts Coast north of Sagamore Beach to the Merrimack River (near the New Hampshire border; this includes Boston).

A tropical storm watch is in effect from the Merrimack River to Eastport, Maine.

For the latest on Irene, stay tune to The Weather Channel and log onto weather.com.


Chuck Bezio
www.cbezio.com