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Hurricane Irene (2011)

Hurricane Irene was a Category 3 hurricane at its peak, with 121 mph winds and a lowest pressure of 942 mb, per NOAA's National Hurricane Center. Modeled winds reached tropical-storm force (39 mph) at 20 of the cities we track; the strongest was Virginia Beach, VA, with a modeled peak gust of 76 mph.

Peak strength121 mph winds (1-minute)
Category 3
Cities with tropical-storm-force windsModeled, of the cities we track
20
LandfallsFirst August 21, 2011
9
Lowest pressure
942 mb

Track, wind field and cities

Select a piece of the track or a city for details.

  • Depression or weaker
  • Tropical storm
  • Hurricane, Category 1 or 2
  • Major hurricane, Category 3 to 5
  • Landfall
  • City (larger ring, stronger modeled gust)
  • Modeled wind field, 39 to 111 mph sustained (darker, stronger; orange 111 mph+)
Source: NOAA/NWS National Hurricane Center best track (HURDAT2). City winds and the wind field are modeled.

The shaded areas are where our model puts Hurricane Irene’s sustained winds over open land at 39 mph or more (tropical-storm force), 58, 74 (hurricane force) and 111 mph (major hurricane force) at some point along its track. Modeled, not measured. How we model hurricane winds

Landfalls

  1. August 21, 2011, tropical storm at 69 mph, in the US Virgin Islands
  2. August 22, 2011, tropical storm at 69 mph, in Puerto Rico
  3. August 24, 2011, Category 3 at 115 mph, in the Bahamas
  4. August 25, 2011, Category 2 at 109 mph, in the Bahamas
  5. August 25, 2011, Category 2 at 104 mph, in the Bahamas
  6. August 25, 2011, Category 2 at 104 mph, in the Bahamas
  7. August 27, 2011, Category 1 at 86 mph, about 81 miles from Wilmington, NC
  8. August 28, 2011, tropical storm at 69 mph, about 3 miles from Atlantic City, NJ
  9. August 28, 2011, tropical storm at 63 mph, about 5 miles from New York, NY

Modeled winds at cities (20)

Estimated peak winds for open, flat ground at each city’s center. Not measurements. How we model hurricane winds

CityPeak gustSustainedClosest passPeak
Virginia Beach, VA76 mph62 mph19 milesAug 27, 2011, 6:15 PM EDT
Atlantic City, NJ72 mph59 mph2 milesAug 28, 2011, 5:15 AM EDT
Wilmington, NC63 mph51 mph69 milesAug 27, 2011, 5:30 AM EDT
New Haven, CT61 mph49 mph36 milesAug 28, 2011, 11:15 AM EDT
Albany, NY60 mph49 mph37 milesAug 28, 2011, 2:30 PM EDT
Springfield, MA60 mph49 mph36 milesAug 28, 2011, 2:00 PM EDT
Hartford, CT60 mph49 mph37 milesAug 28, 2011, 1:00 PM EDT
Waterbury, CT60 mph49 mph25 milesAug 28, 2011, 1:00 PM EDT
Poughkeepsie, NY60 mph49 mph22 milesAug 28, 2011, 12:45 PM EDT
Bridgeport, CT60 mph49 mph26 milesAug 28, 2011, 12:00 PM EDT
New York, NY60 mph48 mph2 milesAug 28, 2011, 10:30 AM EDT
Trenton, NJ60 mph48 mph33 milesAug 28, 2011, 8:15 AM EDT
Show all 20

What happened

After hitting the southeastern Bahamas as a Category 3 hurricane, Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina, at 8 a.m. EDT on August 27, 2011, as a Category 1 hurricane with 75-knot (86 mph) winds.1 It made landfall again at Brigantine Island, near Atlantic City, New Jersey, at 5:35 a.m. EDT on August 28 as a tropical storm with 60-knot (69 mph) winds, and its center then moved over Coney Island and Manhattan in New York City.1

A tide gauge at Oregon Inlet Marina, North Carolina, measured 7.09 feet of storm surge, and post-storm surveys suggest 8 to 11 feet in parts of Pamlico Sound.1 The worst surge damage was between Oregon Inlet and Cape Hatteras.1 Surge of 3 to 6 feet caused hundreds of millions of dollars in property damage in New York City and on Long Island.1 NHC lists a gust of 100 knots (115 mph) at the Cedar Island ferry in North Carolina.1 The strongest of several tornadoes, an EF2 in Columbia, North Carolina, destroyed a few manufactured homes.1

Rain of 5 to 10 inches fell from North Carolina northward, with a peak of 15.74 inches in Bayboro, North Carolina.1 Rain brought major flooding and several record river crests to New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.1 In southern Vermont, flooding destroyed or damaged nearly 800 homes and businesses, and three towns in New York's Catskill Mountains were left uninhabitable.1 NHC counts 40 direct deaths in the United States, including Puerto Rico, 21 of them in rain floods, and estimates total US damage at $15.8 billion.1

Sources

  1. 1. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Tropical Cyclone Report: Hurricane Irene (AL092011)

Best track (43 positions)

TimeStatusWindPressurePosition
Aug 21, 00:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph1006 mb15.0°N, 59.0°W
Aug 21, 06:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph1006 mb16.0°N, 60.6°W
Aug 21, 12:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph1005 mb16.8°N, 62.2°W
Aug 21, 18:00 UTCTropical storm58 mph999 mb17.5°N, 63.7°W
Aug 21, 23:00 UTC (landfall)Tropical storm69 mph993 mb17.8°N, 64.6°W
Aug 22, 00:00 UTCTropical storm69 mph993 mb17.9°N, 65.0°W
Aug 22, 05:25 UTC (landfall)Tropical storm69 mph990 mb18.1°N, 65.8°W
Aug 22, 06:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane75 mph990 mb18.2°N, 65.9°W
Aug 22, 12:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane81 mph989 mb18.9°N, 67.0°W
Aug 22, 18:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane86 mph988 mb19.3°N, 68.0°W
Aug 23, 00:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane92 mph981 mb19.7°N, 68.8°W
Aug 23, 06:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane92 mph978 mb20.1°N, 69.7°W
Show all 43