Hurricane Still A Category One Storm As It Assaults Jersey

Over the past five hours or so, the weather conditions have begun to deteriorate in earnest in Northwestern Middlesex County as well as the rest of New Jersey and the Mid-Atlantic.  Currently, Hurricane Irene is pummeling the Tidewater area of Virginia as well as the Delmarva Peninsula.

Tornadoes have been reported in parts of Delaware as well as Atlantic and Southern Ocean counties in New Jersey.  Rainfall has really picked up with torrential downpours occurring at times.   Barometric pressure has been gradually falling while rainfall amounts are piling up.  The storm surge from this vast circulation is already creating trouble for Middlesex County towns such as South Amboy, which is facing a raging Raritan Bay at the moment.

Located some 100 miles to the South-Southwest of Ocean City in Maryland, or approximately 285 miles to the South-Southwest of New York City, Irene is still a Category One Hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with maximum sustained winds of 80 miles per hour, and gusts in upwards of 100 miles per hour. Minimum central pressure is still holding at a very low 951 millibars, or 28.08 inches of Hg.

Hurricane force winds extend some 85 miles from the eye while tropical storm force winds reach out some 290 miles from the center.  Moments ago, it was reported on television that the Atlantic Ocean has been able to get over the sea wall and begin flooding parts of Ocean City, Maryland.  A wind gust of 76 miles per hour was reported at the Williamsburg-Jamestown Airport in Virginia.  Earlier today, winds gusted to 68 miles per hour at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Sustained winds late this afternoon reached 58 to 59 miles per hour with gusts between 74 and 81 miles per hour in Oregon Inlet and Manteo, North Carolina.  Cape Hatteras reported a wind gust of 87 miles per hour while gusts climbed to near 100 miles per hour near landfall in Cape Lookout, North Carolina.  Rainfall amounts have ranged between 10 to 14 inches in portions of Eastern North Carolina and extreme Southeastern Virginia.  Storm surge levels reached 5 feet above normal at Oregon Inlet while they have been 4 feet above normal so far in the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Here in Northwestern Middlesex County, conditions are gradually getting worse.  The barometric pressure has dropped from 29.93 inches of Hg just after midnight this morning to 29.51 inches of Hg at the time of this report.  Rainfall amounts have been steadily accumulating in South Plainfield with 1.59 inches of rain so far.  Winds are gradually picking up as well.  The Hurricane Warning for the East Coast of the United States has been discontinued south of Cape Lookout, North Carolina.

So, now the Hurricane Warning remains in effect from north of Cape Lookout, North Carolina to Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts including the Pamlico, Albermarle, and Currituck Sounds, Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay  south of Drum Point, New York City, Long Island, Long Island Sound, Coastal Connecticut, Rhode Island, Block Island, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket.  

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the Chesapeake Bay north of Drum Point to the Tidal Potomac, from north of Sagamore Beach to Eastport, Maine, the United States and Canada border northeastward to Fort Lawrence including Grand Manan, and the South Coast of Nova Scotia from Fort Lawrence to Porters Lake.  Other interests in Eastern Canada should closely monitor the progress of this storm.

A Tornado Watch is in effect for the following counties in New Jersey:  Atlantic, Bergen, Burlington, Cape May, Cumberland, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, Passaic, and Union.  A Tornado Warning is now in effect for Central Burlington and Central Ocean County.