Irene maintains Category 3 strength as it heads north

Since this morning, Irene has maintained its intensity at 100kts, but the latest aircraft flight into the storm found a central pressure of 948mb, indicating that Irene is intensifying a bit.

I have a long radar loop from Miami showing Irene's eyewall and western rainbands at http://einstein.atmos.colostate.edu/~mcnoldy/tropics/irene11/Irene_25-26Aug11_long.gif  Sometime tomorrow, the storm will be in range of the Morehead City NC radar... and the radar loop will be available at http://einstein.atmos.colostate.edu/~mcnoldy/tropics/irene11/Irene_26-27Aug11_MHXlong.gif

The latest forecast track, along with updated watches and warnings, is posted below.  This track is only shown out to 3 days... the 5-day track of course extends further to the north.

Many coastal cities have already begun their evacuations and preparations.  This is a very large and dangerous storm... do not be fooled by the exact category rating.  The storm surge all along the east coast could be quite large, even up into bays and sounds, but certainly along the ocean.  Mayor Bloomberg in New York City had the following to say about the situation:

"If the worst scenario is going to happen this weekend, we will activate other elements of our Coastal Storm Plan, including the possibility of evacuating of New Yorkers who live in low-lying areas that could be affected by such storm surges. That includes places such as Coney Island and Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway and Broad Channel in Queens, South Beach, Midland Beach, and other low-lying areas on Staten Island, and Battery Park City in Manhattan."

Please visit my tropical Atlantic headquarters.