Keeping track of Hurricane Irene
The path as projected by the National Weather Service.
So, about this Hurricane Irene: it's expected to hit North Carolina Saturday and then head up the East Coast, probably hitting land again somewhere in the New York City metro area Sunday.
What's that mean for the Capital Region? Rain, and lots of it. The National Weather Service is currently projecting 4-6 inches of rain in this area. (Normal amount of rain for the entire month of August here: about 3.5 inches. So, yep, that is a lot of rain.) Also: wind gusts as high 55 mph.
Some of this will depend on the track of the storm. If it veers more to the east, the less we'll probably see. But this storm is enormous -- NASA reported today that Irene is 600 miles across. So barring some major course change or development, we will see significant rainfall. (RPI already canceled the first day of class on Monday because of concerns about students traveling in the weather. Update: And so has Sage.) [@RPInews] [Sage]
The last hurricane to have a significant effect on this area was Floyd in 1999, which (who?) dropped six inches of rain and included 50 mph winds. [TU]
We generally try to take a "let's not freak out" approach to this sort of situation, but that doesn't mean sitting back and doing nothing. It's probably a good idea to store or tie down stuff like deck furniture (question you should ask yourself: do I want this hitting the house at 40 mph?). And it wouldn't be surprising to see power outages, so make sure you know where your flashlights and associated whatnot are located.
A few links for keeping track of the storm:
+ Storm trackers: Weather Channel | NYT | Google | NWS
+ NOAA's Hurricane Irene page
+ NASA's been collecting satellite images.
Barack Obama said today following a briefing from FEMA that "all indications point to this being a historic hurricane." Things could be pretty bad in the New York City area. NYC has already started some evacuations of hospitals and nursing homes in low-lying areas, and it looks like the transit system will be shut down. There's also concern about storm surge possibly swamping parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. The storm damage total could be in the billions. [White House] [NYT] [Wunderground] [Five Thirty Eight]
Update:
State of emergency in Albany: Jerry Jennings has declared a state of emergency in Albany. Starting Sunday, storm-related issues that require immediate attention should be directed to 434-4522. (Full press release embedded below.)
Federal emergency declared in New York State: The White House has declared an emergency in New York State and is directing federal agencies to coordinate responses to the counties in the New York City metro area.
image: NWS
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Comments
The US Navy weather service has a very nice storm tracking map as well. And they know a thing or two about storms that come from the sea.
http://www.nrlmry.navy.mil/TC.html
... said komradebob on Aug 26, 2011 at 12:59 PM | link
All Sage Campus canceled Monday classes too. As of 12:30p today.
... said Red on Aug 26, 2011 at 1:28 PM | link
The American Idol show at the TUC on Sunday has been postponed.
... said Summer on Aug 26, 2011 at 3:15 PM | link
I remember Hurricane Floyd. He left a couple of feet of water in my basement.
... said Julia Thorne on Aug 26, 2011 at 4:05 PM | link
i got two really cool flashlights at target. one is blue and one is red. in addition to the regular l.e.d. bulb they both have strobe lights in their respective colors...and are waterproof and float. i have about 4,000 pages of reading material...i'm hurrican ready.
... said colleen on Aug 26, 2011 at 4:54 PM | link