Winds Continue To Increase In Jersey As Storm Still Lingers Near Delmarva Peninsula

Good morning everyone.  I got up about an hour ago to the sound of my surge protectors and battery backups beeping.  The power has gone out in my neighborhood in South Plainfield, New Jersey.  The winds have continued to picked, and you could hear tree branches snapping outside.

The barometric pressure continues to fall here in Northwestern Middlesex County.  It is now down to 28.98 inches of Hg (Mercury) or about 981 millibars.  The pressure is equal to that of Superstorm 1993 when it made its closest approach to the Garden State.  The lowest barometric pressure ever recorded here at GWC was 28.80 inches of Hg.

Rainfall totals have continued to steadily climb to 3.79 inches.  It had leveled off earlier in the morning, but has picked up again since I woke up.  Winds have continued to pick up as well.  Low to the ground and close to the house, my weather station is getting a sustained wind of 10 miles per hour.  There are higher gusts.

As of 2:00 PM EDT, the eye of Hurricane Irene was located some 15 miles to the South-Southeast of Ocean City, Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula, or about 195 miles to the South-Southwest of New York City.  Maximum sustained winds are still at 80 miles per hour with gusts up to 100 miles per hour.  Minimum central pressure has risen a bit to 958 millibars, or 28.29 inches of Hg.

The storm has shrunk in size, but is still a vast system with hurricane force winds reaching out a few miles from the eye while tropical storm force winds extend some 240 miles.  Irene is moving a bit faster to the North-Northeast at 17 miles per hour.  The latest forecast track is calling for the hurricane to move right over, or come very close to New York City.  It would be the first time sine the 1893 that the eye of a hurricane moved over at least part of the Big Apple.

The rough weather is expected to last another 10 to 12 hours or so.  The eye of the storm will make its closest approach to Middlesex County by about 8:00 AM on Monday morning.  Until then, the winds will continue to increase.  Once the eye passes, things should start to gradually improve as the southern part of the storm is almost non-existant.  Forecasts indicate that the worst should be over in New York City and New Jersey by about mid-afternoon.

Tornado Watches are in effect for portions of Northern New Jersey including Bergen and Passaic Counties as well as Fairfield County in Connecticut.  A 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.