Irene IV

It is around 7.30 in the morning on Sunday, we just got out of bed. We have power, and on the forecast map it looks like we will mostly get some more winds for the next couple of hours, and then we are through.

Some branches came off of some of the trees around the house, and I think one tree fell down. But so far that seems to be all. It looks like our area got lucky.

A couple of trees damaged and fallen down (further in the back) around the house.
Luckily, these are the most "spectacular" photos I have.

Previous posts: Irene I - Irene II - Irene III

Irene III

Alright, it is almost 12am and Irene is pouring a lot of water on us, and the wind has started. The lights just went off for one second, so we unplugged the TV and everything else. Not much of a problem, we were getting a bit sick of watching reporters standing at the shore instead of getting their asses out of there.

Previous posts: Irene I - Irene II

Irene II

GOES-13 satellite imagery in 15 minute intervals from August 25, 2011, at 9:40 a.m. EDT to August 27 at 9:40 a.m. EDT.

So now it is about 6pm on Saturday, and everything remains pretty quiet; not much wind, but already some rain from the outer reaches of Irene's vortex. The forecasts now put our area in the 40-70mph winds zone (65-112 km/h), which sounds a lot better than what we heard yesterday. This winds are going to start within the next four to five hours.

According to the news, the main concern for us will be falling trees and power line poles, and possible power outages. Our area has been experiencing a lot of rain in August, so the ground is already very saturated and therefore very soft. Add to that up to 20 hours of torrential rain and some tough winds, and even stronger trees could be uprooted.

As I posted before, we live in a sturdy building and we are prepared for power outages, so we should be fine. I might post an update later tonight, power permitting.

Previous post: Irene

Irene

This visible image of Hurricane Irene was taken from the 
GOES-13 satellite on August 26, 2011 at 1:40 p.m. EDT
Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project

It is Friday night and it seems to become more and more certain that hurricane Irene will pass through New Jersey. If we are lucky, it will stay off the coast, but some prediction models have it passing right through the middle of the state. The shore and everything close to the shore is going to get the worst beating. Our apartment is about 33 miles away from the shore (about 53km), so we won't be directly affected by what happens there.

The winds in our area are going to be somewhere between 40 to 100 miles per hour (65-160km/h), this ranges from a light Tropical Storm to a light Category 1 Hurricane. I guess tomorrow the forecasts will be more accurate. Tropical storms are common around here during summer, and we are confident that the house we live in will protect us even from the stronger winds.

With the infrastructure being what it is around here (many of the power lines are above ground on flimsy wooden sticks) we are expecting power outages. To be on he safe side, we stocked up on water and food.

We are now waiting to see what happens next. I will be posting updates here and on Facebook when we know more. The first winds are going to arrive Saturday night.

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