Hurricane Irene ... Saturday Evening Update

Hurricane Irene ... Saturday Evening Update

Hurricane Irene continues to dawdle along about 35 miles southeast of Norfolk, Virginia and 435 miles southwest of Providence this evening. The large storm is moving north-northeast at only 16 mph and likely will continue to skirt the Mid-Atlantic coast at a slightly higher speed during Sunday. That will put the center of the storm over Western Long Island sometime around midday tomorrow. Top winds are still around 80 mph with higher gusts.

We should see wind and rain increase early Sunday morning with a potential for winds of 50-60 mph with perhaps a few gusts to hurricane force in the late morning or early afternoon. Rainfall should total 3-5 inches and that will lead to some local flooding but the greatest rainfall should occur well to our west. The storm should wind down quickly tomorrow evening.