Quakes and Canes

Anybody have the northeast getting hit by a major earthquake and major hurricane in the same week? Didn't think so. But so will be the case here in late August as a 5.8 earthquake hit Virginia today and Irene makes her way towards the coast.

Watched the first twenty minutes of the news today and felt like I was right back in winter mode. Reporters in multiple locations asking any passerby what they experienced today. Things shook. We were confused and a little scared. A can of tomato paste fell down. All in all, everybody was fine. And like their stories, mine too is a bit mundane to fill up a paragraph.

Especially when the major problem will be making its presence very well known in a matter of days. Since this is a blog dedicated towards local weather, I will try to keep my posts detailed with what the future holds for our area.

It still is a bit early to make a clear call on what will happen but I feel confident that this area will likely see some very heavy rainfall and maybe even sustained winds approaching tropical storm force. As for people closer to Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, well we can only hope for the best. That area looks to be once again the prime target for heavy rainfall totals which will clearly present a massive problem.

Even before we jump ahead to the weekend, which timing could play a key role, we also have to look at the threat of heavy showers Thursday. Guess it really wouldn't be much of a shock to see Philadelphia get the most rain out of the front that passes through. Again, if we look at best case scenario, the storms are hit and miss and don't cause any damage. The flooding threat with Irene, if the storm stays on the current path, could be devastating.