Good morning everyone. Things have changed a bit since my last postings to the blog on Thursday night. Tropical Storm Hanna continues to move toward eventual landfall along the Southeast coast. The storm, which still has a chance to become a minimal hurricane prior to coming ashore, has shown signs of strengthening a bit in the past several hours with a ball of convection firing up to the southwest of the center of circulation. In addition, there has been somewhat of a pressure drop as Hanna is now down to 980 millibars, or 28.94 inches of Hg (Mercury), which is down 7 millibars since last night.

Another thing that has changed since last night is the Watches and Warnings, especially for the New Jersey coastline. The Tropical Storm Watch that had covered up to extreme Southern New Jersey has been extended up the Jersey Shore to Sandy Hook. Meanwhile the Flood Watch that was issued yesterday is still in effect for late Saturday afternoon into Saturday night. Again, Tropical Storm Watch means that within the next 36 hours, there could be tropical storm conditions in your area.

The watch is in effect from north of Chincoteague, Virginia to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and it also includes the following: The Chesapeake Bay, The Tidal Potomac, Washington, D.C., and Delaware Bay. Some of the cities and towns in New Jersey affected include: Cape May, Wildwood, Avalon, Atlantic City, Ocean City, Egg Harbor, Long Beach Island, Sandy Hook, Belmar, Seaside Heights, Sea Bright, and Point Pleasant.