Good Looking Weekend Here...& Irene's Impact

A very quiet weather pattern for the Local 6 area continues....I'll let the weather story graphic from the NWS Paducah do the talking.

Now...onto Hurricane Irene. Hurricane Warnings are now in effect from North Carolina all the way north into Massachusetts.  The storm has weakened a bit over the past 24 hours, now down to a CAT 2 hurricane, with max winds at 100 mph.  However, this is a huge hurricane, with hurricane force winds extending outward to 90 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds out to a whopping 290 miles from the center.

 

This huge wind field means that some areas will be impacted by tropical storm force winds (39-73 mph) for anywhere from 15-22 hours!  This also allows for the water to pile up under the center of the storm, making for a large storm surge. The latest info shows storm surge potential of 6-11 feet for coastal portions of NC, and 4-8 feet from Chesapeake Bay north through Cape Cod.

And on top of all the water being pushed inland from the ocean, rainfall totals will be tremendous.  Anywhere from 6-12 inches of rain are expected with the worst of the storm, with localized totals of up to 15 inches possible.

Even though this storm has weakened a bit, it is still going to prove to be a destructive and historic hurricane for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.  With over 65 million people in the path of the storm, the economic impact will be rather large.  In fact, on the economic front, around 20% of the U.S. GDP comes from the area in the path of Irene, and roughly 8% of the U.S. gasoline and diesel supply comes from refineries along the east coast....so get ready to shell out even more at the pump next time you fuel up.