Hurricane irene should i travel

Get our tips on hurricane preparedness. The jet stream—a fluctuating, narrow current of powerful upper-level winds—could easily have weakened or destroyed Irene by scattering her swirling winds, as often happens when the stream meets a storm. Instead, "the jet stream kept sufficient distance from the storm so that it did not shear it but was close enough so that the northward flow of the jet stream—which was the same direction of the path of the storm—greatly aided the hurricane to maintain its unusually low pressure for a Category 1 storm," Blackwell said.

Watch hurricane videos. Hurricanes usually weaken significantly as they pass over land, because their momentum is disrupted and their barometric pressure rises, decreasing the turbulent winds.

By continuing to attract warm, moist air, Irene's strangely low pressure kept the hurricane's engine running, allowing the storm to continue up the East Coast, despite the storm being relatively diffused and slowed. By the time the storm reached New York City Sunday morning, its winds had dropped to about 65 mph, just below hurricane status.

But Irene's barometric pressure was at millibars, a surprisingly low reading for a non-hurricane. For example when Hurricane Wilma, then a Category 3, struck the Florida Keys in October , the storm's barometric pressure reading was roughly equivalent, at millibars.

On Monday morning Irene was still going, if not so strong, according to Richard Pasch, senior hurricane specialist at the U. National Hurricane Center in Miami. Apparently out of lucky breaks, the former hurricane swept over eastern Canada with winds of about 45 miles 72 kilometers an hour, Pasch said. All rights reserved. At the same time, the storm was dodging a bullet. It will take a few days for everyone to get where they want to go, said Mateo Leras, a spokesman for JetBlue.

The airline is adding several flights Monday to take care of passengers who couldn't fly over the weekend. Airlines and airports getting back to normal. The good news is that many of the affected passengers made alternate arrangements, so not everyone is in the backlog that carriers are dealing with now, Baker added.

Did Irene affect you? Share photos, video, but stay safe. Those who are stuck and must pay out-of-pocket to stay at a hotel should go online and look for some great last-minute rates, said Anne Banas, executive editor at SmarterTravel. She recommended checking Hotels. That will have had a major economic impact. About , city residents who had been ordered to leave their homes were told they could return on Sunday afternoon.

Electronic trading is expected to function normally on Monday. But without full staffing, volume will take a hit. Grand Central Station was unusually quiet shortly after 6 a. Stephanie Lopez, 23, who works as a cashier at a midtown cafe, said she had started out a half hour earlier than usual to begin her commute from Woodside, Queens.

She said seven trains were running less frequently than usual and were more crowded. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there were no reports of deaths or injuries in the city, though there were some close calls. So keep your eyes and ears open and your plans flexible if you're headed to or from the Southeast later this week.

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