Swirly Thing Alert

10 AM PDT

Hurricane Isabel has come ashore south of Ocracoke Island, North Carolina. I don't know where brombear's family lives out that way. Hope they are safe. Isabel is a category 2 hurricane with winds at 100 mph. Storm surges of 5 to 8 feet are expected along with extremal large waves. Cape Hatteras has experienced a storm surge of 5 to 6 feet. I'm glad the lighthouse was moved a few years back.

Isabel is unusual in that it is striking perpendicular to the coast, where typically the storms have skirted by the coast.

Swirly Thing Alert

1:30 PM PDT

Isabel has weakened to a category 1 hurricane with 90 mph winds. Her eye is overland now, just North of Greenville, NC. She is expected to continue to weaken and is heading more northerly into Western Pennsylvania.

Swirly Thing Alert : TS Isabel

8:00 PM PDT

The center of Isabel was 35 miles west of Richmond, VA. She has been downgraded to a Tropical Storm with sustained winds of 65 mph. She will be moving off to the north over PA, NY, and eventually the Hudson Bay area.