Hurricane Irene Slide Show

Hurricane Irene: Diary in Imagesby Jonathan Erdman, Sr. Meteorologist

@ weather.com

August 20: Irene is born Air Force Reserve Hurricane Hunter aircraft found a small area of low pressure at the surface near the convective burst you see in the satellite image above. With flight-level winds around 60 mph, this was sufficient to initiate advisories on Tropical Storm Irene.

Location: About 200 miles east of the Antilles•Tropical storm warnings issued for Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, other Leeward Islands

Irene was still a tropical storm as it spread multiple rainbands through the Lesser Antilles. The question for forecasters was whether a possible track over Puerto Rico and Hispanola would weaken or disrupt the circulation, and to what extent.

Impacts: Heavy rain, some gusts near 70 mph in St. Thomas, U.S. V.I. Hurricane warnings issued for Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic

Irene strengthened into the Atlantic season's first hurricane, then hammered Puerto Rico with high winds and flooding rainfall locally in excess of 20 inches. It had become evident Irene's center would remain north of Hispanola going forward, lessening the chance of significant weakening due to land interaction.

Impacts: Estimated 800,000 without power on Puerto Rico; trees/powerlines downed; significant flooding

Hurricane warnings issued for Turks and Caicos Irene strengthens to a Category 2 hurricane Tropical storm-force wind field expands up to 185 miles from center.

August 23: Hispanola lashed

Hurricane Irene lashed the north coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, however its center remained just offshore, ensuring only minimal disruption of the circulation by land.

Impacts: Storm surge flooding swamped homes on D.R. northern coast. Heavy rain through the D.R. lead to flooding and mudslides. Some refuge tents blown down in Haiti.

Hurricane warnings issued for northwest Bahamas

Having pulled away from Hispanola, Hurricane Irene strengthened, becoming the season's first "major" hurricane (Category 3 or higher). Also, the wind field, which would become a significant concern about Irene, expanded. After having clobbered the Turks and Caicos, Irene's eye took dead aim on several central Bahamas islands.

Impacts: Roofs blown off, powerlines downed in Turks/Caicos. 40 homes on Mayaguana Island, dozens on Acklins Island obliterated. Heavy damage on Cat Island.

Hurricane Irene continued to slowly intensify and expand its wind field as it tracked through the northwest Bahamas.

Impacts: Unofficial gust to 100 mph in Nassau downs some powerlines and trees. However, the eyewall tracked east of both Nassau and Freeport over Abaco Island. Wave injured 8 on pier at Boynton Beach, Fla.

Hurricane warning issued for portion of N. Carolina coast. Hurricane watch posted from Virginia to New Jersey.

August 26: First effects arrive...rest of East Coast bracesHurricane Irene's central pressure bottomed out at 942 mb during the early morning hours of August 26 as it headed north toward the Carolinas. Meanwhile, preparations up the East Coast ramped up to high gear. Impacts: Several homes undermined on Sullivan's Island, S.C. 10-15 feet of beach lost on Tybee Island, Ga. Gusts to 70 mph measured late at Wrightsville Beach, N.C.Tropical storm-force winds and outer rainbands soak the Carolinas. Hurricane warning expanded northward to southern coastal Massachusetts, including New York City. 29 million were in hurricane-warned areas.

August 27: Carolinas/Virginia/DelmarvaHurricane Irene made its first U.S. East Coast landfall in eastern North Carolina, spreading a combination of storm surge, rainfall flooding, even tornadoes through eastern North Carolina into the Tidewater of Virginia and Delmarva Peninsula.

N.C. highway 12 washed out in several spots in the Outer Banks. Some locations were isolated from mainland. Up to 14" of rain swamped parts of eastern North Carolina.

Storm surge flooding inundated other areas, including parts of Norfolk, Va. metro to a magnitude similar to Hurricane Isabel (2003). Unofficial gust to 115 mph at Cedar Point, N.C.Tornadoes near Columbia, N.C. and Lewes, Del.

August 28: Final Landfall...Flooding Dominates

Hurricane Irene's center scraped the Jersey shore near Little Egg Inlet, becoming the first hurricane to "officially" landfall in the Garden State since 1903. However, it would be a combination of storm surge and rainfall flooding that would become the legacy of Irene. Record river flooding in at least 15 locations in New Jersey, New York and Vermont. Vt. Public Radio: "Nearly every major Vermont major highway damaged" by flooding.

Highest storm surge at Battery Park in New York City since the Dec. 1992 Nor'easter.

3-4 foot surge in Ocean City, Md., Lewes, Del., Cape May, N.J.