Posted on 08/27/2011 9:53:24 AM PDT by Kaslin
Hurricane Irene made landfall this morning near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, as a Category 1 hurricane with maximum sustained winds estimated at 85 mph.
There is some indication on satellite and radar that Irene may actually be getting slightly better organized at this hour — the Outer Banks don’t provide much real land interaction, and the hurricane is still drawing plenty of moisture from the Atlantic, so that’s possible — but I’ll believe it when it’s verified. There have been a ton of false alarms over the last few days with this storm seemingly trying to get organized, so I’m not going to jump at every radar or satellite blip that suggests “tightening” or intensification. In any event, it’s hard to see Irene getting significantly stronger at this point. If she’s tightening, maybe she’ll hold together as a minimal hurricane through landfall in Long Island, instead of weakening to a strong tropical storm. That’s probably the realistic worst case at this point.
Regardless, the general parameters of this situation seem quite clear, and basically unchanged since yesterday. Wind damage will occur, particularly with trees and branches, but the winds will not be catastrophic by any means. In terms of wind, this may feel to a lot of folks like a strong Nor’easter. Power outages will likely be widespread. Inland flooding will be a big, big deal — if there are deaths in this hurricane, aside from the odd Darwin Award-winning surfer or beachgoer, that’s where they’re likely to come from. The severity of the storm surge is the big open question; we’ll see. (Watch the tidal gauges.) Residents in low-lying areas in evacuation zones should continue to assume the (realistic) worst, and should already be out or rapidly getting the Hell out. Bottom line, Irene is a big storm to be taken seriously, and it will cause a stormy weekend and plenty of damage, but this is by no means the worst-case scenario for NYC and the northeast — and to the extent the media or government is pretending otherwise, they need to ramp down the hype, for the sake of avoiding complacency about the next storm. Fear of a calamity was fully justified 24-36 hours ago, but we can now be quite confident this won’t be a world-historical disaster… even while being equally confident that it is a force to be reckoned with, and one residents should not blow off. Surely there must be some way to communicate both of these concepts simultaneously.
Also read Roger Kimball: Battening down the Hatches
The poor media are so disappointed they can’t come up with some ‘money shots’ and reasons to use some breathless reporting.
Time to get Jerry Rivers in front of some gently rocking boats and yelling at the top of his lungs, how bad it is getting.
Drama Kings and Queens abound.
Don’t worry, he’ll be on later this evening.
The East Coast for all that Graft they have gotten from crooked Politicians disguised as projects is why those idiots are so scared.
It’s still gonna be rough in NYC with storm surge at high tide though.
yeah especially since it is a slow moving storm which can do more damage then a fast moving one
I am just curious if you really are that brave, or if your mouth is just moving?
Ruh-oh
I stayed a block from the beach on during Opal which had winds up to 115 Miles per Hour. Opal and Ivan.
You heard it hear first. On the Weather Channel, at about 12:30 central time, a guy in Virginia Beach mooned the weather reporter then turned around for a full frontal on live tv.
saw that as well.
does that mean the wunderground weather stations are reporting incorrect readings... or the govt is doing everything it can to create panic where there is none?
clicking in the weather station just off the coast of virginia beach, i see 43 mph winds as of right now
what’s going on??
** bouy on EASTERN side of storm **
—
BUOY44014
lat: 36.61
lon: -74.84
Elevation: - ft
VIRGINIA BEACH NM East of Virginia Beach, VA
Sea Surface Temperature: 79 °F
Dom Wave Height: 23.62 ft
Dom Wave Period: 12 s
Wind Wave Height: 16.40 ft
Wind Wave Period: 7 s
Swell Wave Height: - ft
Swell Wave Period: - s
Swell Wave Dir: - °
Temperature: 80 °F
Wind: ESE at 43mph
Pressure: 29.07in
Precipitation: -in
Daily Precip.: -in
—
** bouy on NORTHERN side of storm **
—
MDRSD1
lat: 37.41
lon: -75.44
Elevation: 0 ft
NERRS METEOROLOGICAL SITE SAINT JONES (MADIS)
Temperature: 74 °F
Dew Point: 72 °F
Humidity: 96%
Wind: NNE at 11mph
Pressure: -in
Precipitation: 0.63in
Daily Precip.: -in
—
** here’s one just off ocean city DE **
—
BUOY44009
lat: 38.46
lon: -74.70
Elevation: - ft
DELAWARE BAY NM Southeast of Cape May, NJ
Sea Surface Temperature: 76 °F
Dom Wave Height: - ft
Dom Wave Period: - s
Wind Wave Height: - ft
Wind Wave Period: - s
Swell Wave Height: - ft
Swell Wave Period: - s
Swell Wave Dir: - °
Temperature: 78 °F
Wind: E at 34mph
Pressure: 29.50in
Precipitation: -in
Daily Precip.: -in
—
I never said you didn’t hehe.
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