Hurricane Irene Could Another Katrina!

I pointed out last week that the US was more than likely going to get hit with a major hurricane. While the projections at the time pointed to Florida (projections that far out are shots in the dark) the overriding theme was to prepare for a major hurricane sooner than later.  Then earlier this week, as I pointed out in my most recent post, then Tropical Storm Irene was showing signs of hitting the east coast and possibly New York City.  Now, Irene is a category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph with a northerly movement. I'll be posting updates on my FACEBOOK FANPAGE which sends updates to my twitter page.





Even though the eye of the hurricane is relatively small, the overall size of the hurricane is almost the size of Texas!

The 1938 hurricane rainfall totals were extensive. Irene could mirror these totals.

Should this hurricane hit anywhere from NYC to Long Island as the projections have been indicating over the last 24 hours, the cost could be mindboggling.

Nate Silver, a statistician who has a column on the New York Times website called fivethirtyeightblog calculated what the cost would be if a hurricane hit New York City. His results are mindnumbing:

The bottom line is that this hurricane could be another Katrina OR WORSE!  The economic impact will be long lasting.  Gas prices for us will shoot up!  Cost of food will climb.  The financial markets will be hit hard.  If this happens, the cost will be felt by EVERYONE!

Hurricane Irene - Soon to be an East Coast Reality

If you read my post from last week, many meteorologists including myself were predicting a dangerous hurricane to develop in the Atlantic with a high chance of it making landfall along the east coast of the United States. The computer were showing this more than 10 days in advance. Predictions that far out are often times "shots in the dark". This time, it was right on the money.

If you are vacationing anywhere from the east coast of Florida to Savannah & Hilton Head especially Myrtle Beach/Wilmington, N.C. and the Outer Banks (my vacation spot from when I was a kid), remember that this storm will pack winds of 120+ mph along with a powerful storm surge.

Residents along the SE coast are used to the threat of tropical systems, not areas from Cape Hatteras to New York City.  Yet the threat of a Hurricane making landfall near New York City is real.  Take a look at just a few of the hurricanes that made landfall around New York City.  Notice that most of the tracks look similar to Hurricane Irene. The first one in the list is an old weather map drawn on the day of the NYC hurricane in 1893

Will Irene be similar? Stay tuned.....