Although Irene will not re-strenghten into a Category 3 Storm before hitting the coast of North Carolina and maximum sustained winds may not be quite as high across the tri-state area as orginally thought, this is still a very dangerous situation. Irene is very large and is going to have ample opportunity to pile up water in areas where storm surge is an issue. The thinking now is that the center will come ashore along the south shore of Long Island, in Nassau county. The highest winds will be just east of there. Wind gusts over 80 mph are quite possible at those locations. Although much of the tri-state may not have sustained winds at hurricane force, we do expect hurricane force gusts every so often and sustained winds will easily be tropical storm force. Keep in mind that the high winds will occur during a relatively long period of time, so we still anticipate that there will be quite a bit of wind damage, especially to trees. As you are probably aware, a number of mandatory evacuations were ordered. Please follow them. They are for your own safety. The weather will start going down hill Saturday evening. Expect the worst conditions late Saturday night through Sunday afternoon. As Irene begins to pick up more speed, conditions should rapidly improve Sunday night. The good news is the weather looks marvelous next week... just in time for the start of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
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