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Hurricane Irene on the move
8/26/2011
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NASA satellite image of Hurricane Irene, 26 August 2011
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She may only be the ninth named storm, but Irene is the first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season. Irene formed on August 20, 2011, as a tropical storm in the eastern
Caribbean. Over the next two days, the storm gained energy from the warm
tropical waters, strengthening to a category 1 hurricane. Irene then passed about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west-northwest of San Juan,
Puerto Rico. There, she cut power to more than a million residents before moving westward to the island of Hispaniola, shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
On August 23, Irene passed over the Dominican Republic as a category 2 hurricane. Heavy winds and strong rains lashed the Dominican coast. Irene then closed in on the Turks and Caicos islands. The storm continued to gain strength as it moved through the central Bahama Islands, escalating to a category 3 hurricane by the morning of August 24. By August 25, Irene had moved on to the northwestern Bahamas, pounding the islands with wind speeds of 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour and up to a foot of rain, along with higher-than-normal tides and heavy storm surge. Power outages, flooding, and substantial damage to buildings occurred.
Irene weakened a bit after moving through the Bahamas, becoming a category 2 hurricane by the morning of August 26. Residents of North Carolina are bracing for landfall as Irene slowly barrels her way toward the United States. This massive storm could strike the coast by Saturday morning. Forecasters expect Irene to move near or over the mid-Atlantic coast by Saturday night, although the projected path could change at any time.
Update 8/30/11: Irene made landfall in North Carolina on Saturday, August 27 as a category 1 storm. She then made her way up the East Coast, weakening to a tropical storm on Sunday, August 28. Despite the downgrade, Irene caused billions of dollars in damage from Virginia to Maine as a result of massive flooding, isolated mud slides, and electrical power outages. Officials blame the storm for at least 38 deaths in 11 states. By late Sunday, Irene had moved over Canada as a post-tropical cyclone, maintaining high winds and heavy rains.
—Hilary Maybaum
For Further Study
Hurricane, Weather forecasting and prediction, Intra-Americas Sea, Maritime meteorology, Storm surge
Related Web Sites:
National Hurricane Center: Active Storms
National Hurricane Center: Latest Satellite Imagery of Irene
NASA Satellites: Hurricane Irene Almost One-Third the Size of U.S. East Coast
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