Hurricane Irene Maintains Category 3 Strength, with Possible Intensification

A mix of sun and clouds will take us into the rest of the afternoon hours with scattered storms and some heavier downpours making it to our coastal locations by this evening. Thursday morning will start off fairly dry as Hurricane Irene makes its presence known as it treks across the Bahamas, possibly as a category 4 storm. SWFL will see minimal impacts as Irene stays well off the Florida coastline, however you will notice an increase in the winds as they kick up to 15-20 mph, with higher gusts closer to 30 mph along with a few scattered storms. As Irene pulls away by Friday, it will remain on the breezy side, but with drier air filtering in on the backside, that will limit our storm chance all the way through the weekend.

As of 11am: Hurricane Irene is packing winds of 115 mph, making this the first major hurricane of the 2011 Atlantic season. It's movement is to the NW at 12 mph, with a minimum central pressure of 956 mb. It looks like the east coast of Florida (including Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties) will see more of an impact as Irene passes to the east.