MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

Update: Make that a Category 4.  Read here.

By Kristina Pydynowski – “Irene is destined to strike the southeastern United States later this week as a major hurricane. Residents in the Carolinas are urged to begin preparations.

The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center is expecting Irene to target the Carolinas after emerging from the Bahamas later this week.

AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski has the latest details on how bad it will be for the Carolinas.

Irene strengthened into the season’s first hurricane as it pounded Puerto Rico early Monday morning.

The hurricane will continue its assault on the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean prior to reaching the Bahamas.

As Irene plows through the Bahamas, the storm is forecast to become a major Category 3 hurricane this week.

Exactly when and where Irene moves onshore with its torrential rain, destructive winds and flooding storm surge depends on how soon the storm tracks in a more northward fashion instead of its current northwestward heading.

The AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center currently expects landfall to be somewhere between the North Carolina-South Carolina and Wilmington, N.C., the first part of this weekend. Since the track has had a tendency to shift east, residents farther northeast along the North Carolina coast need to pay close attention to this storm as well.

According to Sosnowski, ‘Often, the worst effects of a hurricane moving in this manner are on the northeastern quadrant of the storm, which would involve at least part of eastern North Carolina.'” Read more.