Weather: Impacts of TS Irene on New England
After making landfall near Cape Lookout, NC on Saturday morning with sustained winds of 85 mph (gusting to 115 mph), Hurricane Irene moved up the coast, bringing heavy rain to much of New England throughout Saturday and Sunday. Irene made her final landfall as a tropical storm with sustained winds of 65 mph in Brooklyn, NY around 9 AM on Sunday, before quickly moving north through New England into Canada. Irene caused near record high tide levels of 9.5 feet at the Battery in NYC, as well as high storm surge on Long Island. In New England, the main impacts were power outages (over half a million people were without power in Massachusetts) due to trees toppled by the strong winds, and flooding due to heavy rain.
The weather this week will be decidedly less extreme. A ridge of high pressure be over our region for most of the week, keeping our weather sunny and dry with pleasant temperatures.