This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Forecasters Urge Caution As Hurricane's Path Is Uncertain

Hurricane Irene picking up steam; likely to cause problems this weekend

Forecasters from the National Weather Service in Mount Holly said Tuesday that Hurricane Irene will affect the Jersey Shore in some way and predict that the area will be hardest hit on Sunday.

As of 11 a.m. Tuesday, Irene was about 50 miles north-northwest of the Dominican Republic. The Category 2 hurricane's maximum recorded wind speed was 100 mph.

The National Hurricane Center is currently predicting that the storm will make an initial landfall off the southern North Carolina coast by late Saturday night, but New Jersey could also be affected. Other forecasts have placed New Jersey in a potential path.

“It looks like New Jersey is going to be impacted in some way this weekend – particularly Sunday – by the storm, but this far out the exact forecast track can be off by 200 to 300 miles,'' said Bob Wanton, National Weather Service meterologist. "Of course, that will make a huge difference in how we're affected.”

Irene is expected to intensify throughout the day Tuesday and is predicted to reach the strength of a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) later today.

“Irene is growing in strength,'' said NyNJPAweather.com Meteorologist Steven DiMartino, on a video forecast. "Once Irene gets passed the influences of the island if Hispanola, Irene is going to intensify rapidly.”

The storm's exact track is not known.

“It looks like the storm should clip the Carolina coast, and then how it affects our area remains uncertain,'' Wanton said. "The storm could come right over us, or go off to the Northeast and remain over the Atlantic waters. Either way, it's a serious situation.”

Current weather forecast models around mid-day Tuesday showed a variety potenital paths. But most models place the storm within 100 miles of that Atlantic City coast by midday Sunday.

“When the storm gets here, we could be dealing with a storm that has the strength of anything from a tropical storm to a Category 2 hurricane," DiMartino said. "The storm could dump anywhere from 2 to 10 inches of rain regardless depending on how it interacts with land.”

Wanton said the storm could also pose problems for coastal communities.

“We have a new moon, and that could cause some real coastal flooding problems along the coast, depending on how the storm tracks in here,” Wanton said. “It's been an extremely wet August. There's just so much water that anything would cause problems let alone this much tropical moisture."

Find out what's happening in Wallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Over the weekend,   residents should review their hurricane preparedness materials in August.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?