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Please could one amend the thread title to "Colonials Experience Wind"?

Hurricane Irene: Major Northeast Threats
Updated: August 24, 2011 2:30 pm ET

It's not every day you see a hurricane forecast cone pointed into the Northeast.

In fact, the concern among meteorologists is high. National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read: "We are very concerned with what's going to happen in New England. The benchmark is the 1938 hurricane. I am very concerned with what will happen there."

The potential is real for the strongest hurricane hit on the Northeast in at least a couple decades this weekend!

Let's lay out all the potential threats and timing involved with Hurricane Irene.


High winds

The 5 a.m. EDT forecast discussion Tuesday from Stacy Stewart, Sr. Hurricane Specialist at the National Hurricane Center mentioned Hurricane Irene is "forecast to become a larger than average hurricane."

This means its wind field, both of tropical storm-force and hurricane-force winds, will cover a large swath of real estate. Reason again not to focus solely on the path of the center of circulation, although it is around and especially east of the eye where the strongest winds will be.

Again, NHC Director Bill Read: "The storm will not lose much as it heads to New England." While the strongest winds would occur if Irene's center remains over water, possibly more confined to areas along and east of I-95, high winds would also occur and spread inland if Irene's center does move inland.

Our graphic below highlights the general area of wind threat from Hurricane Irene. As you can see, a large swath of the Northeast may see power outages and downed trees. The severity will be dictated by Irene's exact path and intensity, which remain uncertain at this time.

The Bottom Line: Wind threat

Timing: Conditions deteriorate Saturday night. Strongest winds Sunday. Lingering strong winds possible Sunday night into early Monday in New England.
Possible impacts: Widespread trees downed, power outages, particularly near the coast. Potential for some structural damage in strongest gusts near center of Irene.



Heavy rain/flood threat

It's already been a wet August in the Northeast.

Philadelphia will likely have its wettest single month on record, breaking a record from Sep. 1999, which included heavy rain from Hurricane Floyd passing to the east.

New York City may also break their previous wettest month record dating back to 1882!



More images and text at link . . .

http://www.weather.com/weather/hurrican ... 2011-08-23

Searcher08 wrote:Sorry old chap, one looked to see if there was a hurricane about to hit (inside the M-25 Greater London orbital road) and it seems there isnt.

Please could one amend the thread title to "Colonials Experience Wind"?

Thanks awfully, old bean

Stay safe everyone

Jeff Masters wrote:Irene is capable of inundating portions of the coast under 10 - 15 feet of water, to the highest storm surge depths ever recorded. I strongly recommend that all residents of the mid-Atlantic and New England coast familiarize themselves with their storm surge risk. The best source of that information is the National Hurricane Center's Interactive Storm Surge Risk Map, which allows one to pick a particular Category hurricane and zoom in to see the height above ground level a worst-case storm surge may go. If you prefer static images, use wunderground's Storm Surge Inundation Maps. If these tools indicate you may be at risk, consult your local or state emergency management office to determine if you are in a hurricane evacuation zone.

Irene May Require Evacuations of Some New York City Areas, Bloomberg Says

New York officials preparing for Hurricane Irene this weekend will decide tomorrow whether to call for the evacuation of low-lying areas in downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-2 ... -says.html