An image released by the NOAA made from the GEOS East satellite shows Hurricane Irene on Aug. 23, 2011 as it passes over Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. The storm is on a track that could see it reach the U.S. Southeast as a major storm by the end of the week. (AP Photo/NOAA)
A resident walks along Los Yayales beach as strong waves crash due to the approach of Hurricane Irene to Nagua, in the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, Monday, Aug, 22, 2011. Hurricane Irene churned into a stronger Category 2 storm on Monday evening, after raking Puerto Rico with strong winds and rain that knocked out power to more than a million people, on a track that could carry it to the U.S. Southeast as a major storm by the end of the week. (AP Photo/Roberto Guzman)
Michael Aymonin fills up spare gasoline containers at Costco in preparation for Hurricane Irene, Monday, Aug. 22, 2011, in Royal Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/The Palm Beach Post, Allen Eyestone)
The Atlantic has its first hurricane of the 2011 season.
Hurricane Irene is currently a Category 2 storm on the
Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. The storm is forecast to move slowly over the Bahamas and other islands southeast of the U.S. coast before shooting north on a crash course for the Carolinas early Sunday.
As of 4 a.m. Tuesday,
Irene was moving west-northwest at 12 mph, about 105 miles southeast of Grand Turk Island with sustained winds of 100 mph.
As a tropical storm and weaker hurricane, Irene cut right across Puerto Rico, causing significant damage there and knocking out power to more than 1 million people.
Forecasters are saying that Irene will become a
Category 3 storm and could become Category 4 before it makes landfall.
Think for a moment about the last major hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland. It's been a while! The year: 2008. The Hurricane: Ike. Ike made landfall near Galveston, Texas, and was the third costliest hurricane in U.S. history.
That three-year reprieve is
worrying officials, who fear coastal inhabitants may have become complacent.
While the effects of numerous hurricanes and tropical storms have been felt along the Carolinas in the past several years, it's also been three years since a storm lade landfall there. That was Hanna, which made landfall near Myrtle Beach, S.C.
If Irene stays on track and intensifies, it will create a very serious situation for many spots across the Atlantic. That late summer trip to the Outer Banks? Yeah, put that on hold...
--Jerry Wofford
Oh, interesting side note: The word Irene comes from the Greek word "eiréné" meaning peace. So, there's that.
