Hurricane Heads Toward Florida

The first hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season has left its mark on Puerto Rico and is tracking toward southern Florida.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Irene has maximum sustained winds of 75 mph and was located close 25 miles west of San Juan, where preliminary damage reports indicate widespread tree and powerline damage as of Monday morning.

While there is considerable uncertainty with the extended forecast at this stage, NHC expects Irene to approach southern Florida late Thursday or early Friday, before tracking parallel to the eastern coast of Florida and making landfall near the Florida/Georgia border over the weekend. En route, the storm is expected to bring heavy rain to the Virgin Islands, southeastern Bahamas and The Turks and Caicos Islands.

“Irene is expected to remain at hurricane strength as it tracks through the Caribbean with some strengthening forecast as it passes over the waters between The Turks and Caicos Islands and The Bahamas where surface water temperatures are running between 29 to 30C,” said Emily Paterson, associate CAT response manager at RMS. “The extended forecast sees Irene strengthen further as it passes southern Florida, though the uncertainty associated with the extended forecasts is high at this time.”