A hurricane warning has been in effect since this morning and it feels, looks, and smells like were definitely going to get some weather from Irene. Though Irene has been weakening over the past day, it is still a formidable storm with a large wind field. With a large diameter of tropical storm force winds, many of us in New Jersey are certainly going to experience what a tropical cyclone is- wind and heavy rain. This is looking like the most potent tropical cyclone in our area since Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Freshwater flooding inland is a serious concern since the expected inches of rain are coming on top of flooding from record one-day rains only a week or so prior. After this system, many areas will likely surpass their all-time wettest August by a large margin.
As of 500pm EDT, hurricane warnings are in effect over the entire New Jersey coastline, extending all the way through Cape Cod. With that large wind field, we will most certainly get some impressive weather with this. For a new generation of beach dwellers, this will be a lifetime storm and one to remember. Wundergound has Irene weakening to a Category 1 in North Carolina, but maintaining that intensity on a forecast track with it directly over the coast on 8am Sunday. Even if the storm weakens more, we’re at the very least going to get sustained moderate-strong tropical storm force winds. Remember, even a sustained 50mph wind is WINDY.
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| Here begins the outer cloud line on Friday evening |
If you go outside and look up you will see the leading edge of the storm is already here. Irene is a very large storm geographically so we are already seeing some cirrus and high level clouds filtering in. Expect the cloud deck to get progressively lower overnight as the storm approaches. However, tropical weather is often squally, so you may notice an alternating sky condition between light and dark clouds, maybe even with periods of sun in the morning before the brunt of it moves in.
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| Some fun 3ft waves and nice beach weather |
There wasn’t much indication of an approaching storm today which is typical with tropical systems since high pressure usually surrounds these types of storms. Looking closer, there was different kind of swell running today, a 3ft+ longer period swell that had a much different character than our normal waves. It was obvious something different was out there. Had Irene not been in the swell shadow of Cape Hatteras the waves would have certainly been bigger. I grabbed a nice surf session during mid-day at low tide, between removing projectiles from my yard and Todd’s yard. The waves were punchy, fast and fun. After a summer of record flatness it felt great to finally ride something.
Here are a couple links for tracking the storm . . .
Here are a couple links for tracking the storm . . .
