Hurricane Irene … Friday Morning Update

Hurricane Irene … Friday Morning Update

All of Southern New England is now, officially under a Hurricane Watch. That means that hurricane conditions are POSSIBLE within 48 hours. At mid-morning Irene was located about 375 miles south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and just under 900 miles south-southwest of Providence. The big storm is moving north at 14 mph and will likely impact North Carolina Later tonight and tomorrow and move into our vicinity on Sunday.

The track continues to be one that threatens us with hurricane force winds by Sunday afternoon. It is still not possible to pinpoint the exact point of eye landfall this far in advance but the most likely landing spot will be somewhere over Long Island and then plowing northward into Connecticut. That scenario is a very dangerous one for Rhode Island since we will be on the eastern side of the eyewall, the area where the strongest winds usually occur.

New track data will be coming in around noontime and I will have a further update as soon as I can evaluate that new information.