The US National Hurricane Centre has extended its storm warnings to now include Canada after Hurricane Irene changed route to take a more inland track.
From 22,300 miles in space, the latest satellite images show Hurricane Irene now slowly spreading along 600 miles of the US east coast.
Irene made landfall in Cape Lookout, North Carolina at 8 a.m. EDT as a Category one hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 85 mph. The storm surge and rough waves it brought have been severely battering the coast. The GOES-13 satellite saw Hurricane Irene after landfall at 8 a.m. in Cape Lookout, North Carolina on August 25, 2011 at 10:10 a.m. EDT. At that time Irene's outer bands had already extended into New England.
Winds, waves and water are the three threatening factors in a hurricane, and Irene has all three.
At 11 a.m. EDT, the Weather Channel were reporting sustained winds on the beach of Nags Head, N.C. near 60-65 mph as Irene continued battering eastern North Carolina and tropical storm conditions were spreading into the Delmarva (Delaware/Maryland/Virginia) coast. At that time, the first rainfall from Irene's outer bands reached the Washington, D.C. area bringing brief moderate to heavy rainfall.
According to a National Hurricane Centre alert posted at 2pm EDT, there is now a hurricane warning in effect for the East Coast from Little River Inlet in North Carolina northward to Sagamore Beach in Massachusetts.
The hurricane warning affects areas, including the Pamlico, Albemarle, Currituck Sounds, Delaware Bay, Chespeake Bay, New York City, Long Island, Long Island Sound, Coastal Connecticut and Rhode island, Block Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for Chesapeake Bay from Drum Point northward and the tidal Potomac, north of Sagamore Beach to Eastport Maine, US/Canada border northeastward to Fort Lawrence, including Grand Manan and the south coast of Nova Scotia from Fort Lawrence to Porters Lake.
The NHC warns interests in eastern Canada to closely monitor the progress of Hurricane Irene.
Earlier today, two tornadoes had been reported in Virginia Beach, Va. during the morning hours and another tornado warning was in effect. Wind gusts were reported as high as 50 mph in Virginia Beach, while Irene's strongest winds still lay to the south-southwest of there.
Irene is expected to produce rainfall accumulations of 6 to 10 inches, and isolated amounts over a foot (to 15 inches) from eastern North Carolina northward through the Mid-Atlantic states into eastern New York and interior New England. The Pamlico River in eastern North Carolina was reported to be at the top of its levee, and flooding is becoming widespread.
Irene's maximum sustained winds were near 85 mph and she was moving to the north-northeast near 15 mph. At Cape Hatteras, N.C. a wind gust to 87 mph was reported, while further north at Norfolk Naval Air Station reported a wind gust to 63 mph.
NASA satellites have noticed Hurricane Irene grow over the week, from 200 miles to over 600 miles in diameter. By 11 a.m. EDT on Aug. 27, Irene's tropical-storm-force winds extend outward 260 miles making the extent 520 miles in diameter. Hurricane-force winds extend outward up to 90 miles or 180 miles in diameter.
The National Hurricane Center expects tropical-storm-force winds to spread northward along the Mid-Atlantic coast today with hurricane conditions expected in afternoon. Tropical storm conditions are expected to reach southern New England late this evening with hurricane conditions expected by Sunday morning.
Dangerous, large and destructive waves are expected in coastal areas. Storm surges near the North Carolina/Virginia border are expected to raise water levels by 4 to 8 feet above ground level in the hurricane warning area, northward to Cape Cod and southern portions of the Chesapeake Bay.
Irene is now forecast by the National Hurricane Center to take a more inland track and maintain hurricane force near coastal New York, western Connecticut and western and central Massachusetts.
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