7:30 AM | All eyes on Irene as it continues to pose a serious threat to the east coast

6-Day Forecast

Today

Refreshing late-summer weather continues with mostly sunny skies, pleasant temperatures, highs near 80

Tonight

Mostly clear, great sleeping conditions, lows in the upper 50’s

Wednesday

Mostly sunny, warm, near 85

Thursday

Partly sunny, more humid, hot, chance for a shower or thunderstorm, rain could be briefly on the heavy side, near 90

Friday

Partly sunny, warm, slight chance for a shower or thunderstorm, upper 80’s

Saturday

Mostly cloudy, humid, chance for showers and thunderstorms late in the day or at night depending on the track of Irene, potential exists for substantial rain amounts and gusty winds, low 80’s

Sunday

Mostly cloudy, humid with the threat for more showers and thunderstorms, potential exists for substantial rain amounts and gusty winds, low 80’s

Discussion

Refreshing late-summer weather continues through tomorrow, but the main focus of attention continues to be on Hurricane Irene. Irene is now just north of the island of Hispaniola and is a category 2 hurricane with 100 mph winds. It appears to be headed towards the Bahamas and will likely strengthen into a major hurricane within 24 hours or so – perhaps even reaching category 4 status. Irene seems destined to then head towards the Carolina coastline (South or North) by around Saturday morning and then it could turn right up the east coast giving us the potential here in the Mid-Atlantic for heavy rain and strong winds. This potential track is somewhat similar to the track that Hurricane Floyd followed during September 1999 and that storm dumped massive amounts of rainfall in much of the Mid-Atlantic region. Stay tuned on this developing weather story as we progress through the week.

Video

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwrBaM2EcKg