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UNISYS Infrared Atlantic States Satellite Image (click here for 12 hour loop)
It is a rainmaker. In the loop of the satellite at the link above it is easily discerned how condensed the eye became and increased loft as it approached landfall.
Raleigh, NC - Hurricane Irene click title to entry - thank you) slammed into North Carolina's coast around dawn Saturday with howling winds and drenching rains amid reports of flooding and tens of thousands of people without power.
The center of Hurricane Irene is expected to hit the Outer Banks around lunchtime.
Irene claimed it's first victim Friday night when a 22 year old surfer drowned after being caught in a rip current off the coast in Virgina Beach.
A tornado watch was issued for parts of Virginia until 11 a.m. Saturday. Included in that watch is Northampton County in North Carolina.
Just after 10 p.m. Friday night a tornado touched down in Belhaven, NC in Beaufort County. The tornado did structural damage to multiple trailers and ripped the roof off of a car dealership.
A second tornado was reported early Saturday morning in Tyrrell County near Columbia, NC. Structural damage was done to buildings and some injuries reported.
The latest advisory from the National Hurricane at 3am Friday has maximum sustained winds at 90 mph, making it a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale.
No significant change in strength is forecast before Irene reaches the coast of North Carolina, and some weakening is expected after landfall....
The power of the storm is best noted due to its sustained 'area.' It isn't minor physics that is maintaining a storm at 90 mph winds with such a large footprint. That's why it is difficult for any weather service to simply say this storm isn't 'all that.' It is 'all that.' And it changes so unpredictably that it can NOT be trusted in what will happen next. In that short 12 hour loop it changed its entire character and once it passes over land and goes back so sea it will change again. Taking care of people and property during these events isn't efficient, but, it is prudent. That is something the public sometimes does not appreciate. A surfer in Virginia died due to rip currents caused by this storm hundreds of miles away and it wasn't for the lack of warning. Why do people think they know more than what is told them?
