Hurricane Irene Briefing #03

I am here once again to brief you on Irene's status.  As a few of you may know, Hurricane Irene poses a serious threat to the United States, with potential for a Category 3 or higher storm to slam the Carolinas.  I have already briefed you in past videos, so those who frequently view this blog should know.  First we are going to show you the NHC's track:

The NHC brings a major hurricane into North Carolina by 2 am Sunday morning.  Here is another image:

People who live inside of the black hatched area should begin preparing for hurricane conditions now.  Obviously, most of those areas are not going to be hit, but this map is there to show us the potential errors that the NHC can have.  A sudden shift in the computer models, then BAM! a large and extremely dangerous hurricane hits the Gulf of Mexico.  Everybody along the East and Gulf coasts of the US, in the Bahamas, Cuba, and any other major island in the path of this storm should closely monitor this storm's progress.  Once this system gets inland (if it does), heavy rain will become a serious threat along the entire East Coast of the US.  Even more concerning is the NHC's intensity forecast:

It brings it up to 135 mph in the storm's peak.  I will not go into the models, as viewing them will cause even more reason for people to be afraid.  Again, potential remains for this storm to go out to see.  In summary, while it may look like a doomsday situation for portions of the US and the Caribbean, there is plenty of time for this to change, so stay tuned.