First things first, everyone wants to know about Irene. Well the most important thing you need to know about Irene is that she is quickly becoming a more impressive force to be reckoned with. As the track continues to shift east, it will keep the center of the storm over water allowing strengthening. Now the good news for anyone wondering if the storm will impact their travel plans to Florida … with each model run as the track continues to shift East it looks like other areas along the East Coast are potentially becoming better targets. That said there is still quite a bit of uncertainty with the track more then 4 or 5 days out – in fact (and I lifted this from the NHC directly) –
IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO FOCUS ON THE EXACT FORECAST TRACK… ESPECIALLY AT DAYS 4 TO 5…SINCE THE MOST RECENT 5-YEAR AVERAGE ERRORS AT THOSE FORECAST TIMES ARE 200 AND 250 MILES…RESPECTIVELY.
So with that said anyone living in Florida or planning to visit in the next week needs to pay close attention to what happens with Irene as travel disruptions may be the least of your worries. I am not trying to alarm because I hate weather people that do that – but like I told you last week – preparation is key to safety and this is a situation to keep an eye on even if the latest tracks are having the storm skirt the coast.
Now for the short term expect a pretty “normal” summer day today throughout the Orlando area. There will be some showers and thunderstorms this afternoon – though it looks like coverage won’t be too much to deal with. Moisture levels are slightly under what they were towards the end of last week so I’d expect shower activity to be even more isolated.
High temperatures will top out in the mid 90s the next two days with a gradual decline in temperature towards mid week – but honestly with the dewpoints where they are – you won’t notice much of a change.