Aug 22, 2011
Hurricane Irene is currently a dangerous hurricane lashing out 100mph winds and torrential rain to the island of Puerto Rico. This is just a preview of what is going to happen to many of the islands of the Caribbean this week and the Georgia/SC coast this weekend.
As I said in my previous post, the computer models are still tightly bound together so forecasters have confidence the above projected path is more accurate than usual. Right now models are suggesting a Major Hurricane/Category 3 storm to directly hit South Carolina. A category 3 storm is an extremely dangerous storm with sustained winds of 111-130MPH with gusts exceeding 130MPH. "Devastating damage will occur," says the NHC from the Saffir-Simpson Scale.
This is a little something from The Weather Channel. It shows the current threat levels or chances of Hurricane Irene hitting certain land masses through Saturday. Right now we are in the middle of the scale.
Two things can happen to Irene as she moves through the Caribbean.
1. Remember what happened to Emily when she dragged herself over the mountains of Hispaniola? She got totally crushed and the whole storm dissappered because of the high terrain. If Irene takes a more SW path over Hispaniola she would most likely downgrade to a lesser storm.
2. But if she continues on the path she is currently on and stays over very, very, very, warm water she could intensify even more.
I don't care if it's only Monday and she isn't expected to come up this way until Friday. Model guidance for some reason is very uniform and we all must keep a very close eye on this storm this week.
Frequent updates/blog posts will be the name of the game this week. Keep it tuned here at Folly Surf Photography and also the National Hurricane Center.
MikeC
**GET OFFICIAL HURRICANE UPDATES FROM THE NHC**
Hey this is my first year worrying bout 'canes. Is this normal that we get in the path of a hurricane atleast once a year and more often than not it misses us?
This isn't a regular occurrence. Last major storm to hit here was Hugo in 1989. I've lived here 5 years and I've never seen a hurricane of this strength forecast to hit this coast.
Last year Hurricane Earl got pretty close to us and produced the wave you see as my banner picture. All we experienced was massive waves; no wind or rain or even clouds.
But Irene is far away still and the forecast can change so for now just have a plan ready.