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captioning funded by cbs and that is the picture of the morning hurricane irene. it is a huge storm, hundreds of miles across and it is headed our way here on the east coast. by this time tomorrow, it will be pounding north carolina and all the major cities in the northeast will feel it over the weekend. this is no joke. we are in serious mode here. with hurricanes you so he them coming, maybe it will drift. this one is aiming right towards the east coast and all of the major cities are in its path. good morning, everybody. i m chris wragge. i m erica hill. all of the models seem to be saying the very same thing this time. the latest on irene is now a category 2, it weakened slightly but still a very strong storm, top winds around 110 miles an hour. this morning hurricane watches extend from north carolina up to massachusetts. north carolina, virginia, maryland, delaware, new jersey, new york and connecticut have all declared a state of emergency. as many as 65 mill ....
along the coast, get out of the way. if i order a mandatory evacuation, the bottom line is you better leave. we have the latest for you on the storm s path, the preparations and what you can expect from irene. early this friday morning, august 26th, 2011. captioning funded by cbs that is the picture of the morning. hurricane irene. a huge storm. hundreds of miles across. it is headed our way here on the east coast. by this time tomorrow it will be pounding north carolina and all of the major cities in the northeast will feel it. i m chris wragge. i m erica hill. we are live on the west coast. you will feel that ripple effect from the travel delays. want to get you the latest. irene is category 2 hurricane after weakening slightly overnight. we say weakening slightly because you need to keep in mind this is a major storm still. top winds around 110 miles an hour. this morning, hurricane warnings and watches extend from north carolina to massachusetts and nort ....
tracking irene s path. all right. let s take a look at the location. take a look at the graphic. 2:00, actually, the wind came down just a little bit from last night. down to 115 miles per hour. still a category 3 storm, heading off now to the north/northwest and a little faster, at 14 miles an hour. you can see, it s almost due east of miami. late this afternoon, or southeast of miami. eventually, looks like north carolina gets a category 3 storm. by the time it hits the maryland coast, still may be a category 2 or very strong category 1 storm, which means probably about 90 miles per hour. the key, however, is exactly where is the center of the storm going to be? because the strongest winds are just east and center. and as you can see, the model, still have it just offshore. hopey there it goes a little further to the east. but looks like it may be a direct hit from the storm. maybe in southern new jersey. perhaps even new york city area and central portions of long ....
coast, all of delaware. that s saturday night into sunday morning. that s when we ll expect to see the worst effects from the storm. take a look at the 5:00 update. just came in. and really, there s been no change, thank goodness. it s still a category 3 storm with winds of 115. still moving off to the north/northwest at friendship. still strengthening. it may get to a category 4. it am probably be a category will probably be a category 2 storm as it heads up to southern portions of new england. as a category 1. or weak category 2 storm. all of the tracks still have it just offshore. the worst effects to our region, are going to be between 8:00 and 10:00 saturday night. and about 2:00 to 4:00 sunday afternoon. so saturday night, into sunday morning, looks like the worst for the baltimore region. look for wind gusts, with winds generally between 40 and 50. and maybe wind gusts of 60, along the ocean city area. they may see wind gusts over 90 miles an hour. obviously, ....
what that generally means is, we can expect these kinds of conditions to begin in around 48 hours. now, you may be a little later. but this is probably the wisest thing to do, to let people know that things are going to go rapidly downhill here by saturday night and sunday morning. now, as far as the storm is concerned, it hasn t changed much this afternoon. still a category 3 storm, with winds 115 miles an hour. now, it s moving off to the north/northwest, about 14. by saturday morning, we have it somewhere off the carolina coast. by sunday morning, just east of ocean city. it moves quickly off to the north and northeast. by the time it gets to our latitude, 25 to 30 miles an hour. that s good because it will keep the winds offshore for a shorter period of time. the faster it moves, the better off we are. however, it s not going to be for sure. as we look at the models, the models still have the storm, just offshore, as probably a category 2 storm. and we re talking sa ....