Hurricane Irene grew into a Category 2 storm that is forecast to strengthen as it moves toward the Bahamas and possibly the Carolinas and U.S. Northeast.
Irene’s maximum sustained winds were 100 miles (160 kilometers) per hour, up from 80 mph yesterday. It may become a major hurricane later today or early tomorrow, according to a National
Hurricane Center advisory at 5 a.m. New York time.
“I don’t see any roadblocks to intensification over the next four or five days,” said Jeff Masters, co-founder of Weather Underground Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “The ocean temperatures are 1 to 1.5 degrees warmer than average this year. Climatologically, conditions are conducive for strong hurricanes tracking far to the north this year.”
There is a chance Irene may pass over Long Island next week as a strong tropical storm, said Masters, who began his career flying on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration hurricane reconnaissance planes. One such plane investigated Irene late yesterday and that mission should improve the computer model error rate by 20 percent.
New York City has been tracking the storm since it first appeared off Africa last week, said Chris Gilbride, a spokesman for the Office of Emergency Management.
It probably would be a “heavy rain event,” not a hurricane, if it reaches New York, he said.
“The storm is not likely to stop in the Carolinas,” meteorologist Alex Sosnowski wrote on AccuWeather Inc.’s website. “It is very possible strong-tropical-storm or even hurricane conditions will continue to spread up the Atlantic Seaboard.”
SOURCE
Hurricane and earthquake all one week?
