The UK Met Office has warned of the destructive combination of strong winds and heavy rain of Hurricane Irene as the latest NASA satellite images today show a storm 600-miles wide on a collision course with the US East Coast.
Latest forecasts show the hurricane is currently off the Florida, Georgia and South Carolina coastline with the epicentre of the storm expected to make landfall further north within hours.
It is due to pass over North Carolina before continuing up the coast, passing over New York City about a day later.
Irene, the first hurricane of this year's North Atlantic tropical storm season, has already caused much destruction in the Bahamas with winds of up to 115 mph.
The Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC), is warning that Irene could bring 6-10 inches (150-250mm) of rain, with up to 15 inches (380mm) possible in places. It will also bring a powerful storm surge which could cause flooding in low lying areas.
Julian Heming, Tropical Prediction Scientist for the UK Met Office, said: "While Irene's strong winds have the potential to cause damage, it is the amount of rainfall combined with the storm surge which are most likely to cause disruption.
"Although there will be slow weakening, we are expecting Irene to remain a powerful storm as it travels north along the US east coast."
The latest infrared satellite imagery provides forecasters with the location of the highest, strongest thunderstorms that make up Hurricane Irene, and according to NASA there is a large area of them.
An infrared image from NASA's Aqua satellite's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on August 26 at 2:59 a.m. EDT (06:59 UTC) shows Hurricane Irene right off the Florida, Georgia and South Carolina coasts. The infrared data showed highest, coldest thunderstorm cloud tops in two areas.
There is a very large area of strong thunderstorms around the center of circulation and also in a large band of on the northeastern quadrant. Cloud top temperatures are colder than -63 Fahrenheit (-52 Celsius) in those areas, indicating strong thunderstorms and heavy rainmakers.
At 8 a.m. EDT this morning Hurricane Irene was centered 375 miles south-southwest of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, near 30.0 North and 77.3 West. Irene moved 0.1 degree to the west in the last 3 hours. Maximum sustained winds were near 110 mph, and Irene is moving north at 14 mph. Minimum central pressure is 945 millibars.
Radar from Wilmington, North Carolina at 9 a.m. EDT shows the outer bands of Hurricane Irene just off the southeastern North Carolina coast and moving toward the shorelines.
The National Hurricane Center notes that some re-intensification is possible today and Irene is expected to be near the threshold between category two and three as it reaches the North Carolina coast.
Irene has continued to grow over the last week. Irene is now almost 600 miles wide. Tropical storm force winds extend 290 miles from the center. Hurricane force winds extend to 90 miles from the center or 180 miles in diameter.
There are hurricane warnings up and down the U.S. East coast, from South Carolina to New York. Coastal areas are under hurricane watches and warnings and interior areas tend to be under Tropical Storm Warnings and watches.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) notes that "a tropical storm warning means that tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere within the warning area within 36 hours. A hurricane watch means that hurricane conditions are possible within the watch area. A watch is typically issued 48 hours before the anticipated first occurrence of tropical-storm-force winds...conditions that make outside preparations difficult or dangerous."
Rainfall is a serious issue with Irene as she is expected to generate rainfall accumulations of 6 to 10 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches from Eastern North Carolina into Southeastern Virgina, eastern Maryland, Delaware, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, southeastern New York, Long Island, Western Connecticut, and western Massachusetts through Monday morning.
The NHC said that dangerous storm surge levels as much as 11 feet are possible in the warning area in North Carolina, and up to 8 feet in southern portions of the Chesapeake Bay. The New Jersey shore can expect surges up to 6 feet above ground level.
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