The Perfect Storm Heading for East Coast

The U.S. East Coast has a good chance of getting blasted by gale-force winds, flooding, heavy rain and maybe even snow early next week by an unusual hybrid of hurricane and winter storm, federal and private forecasters say.

Though still projecting several days ahead of Halloween week, the computer models are spooking meteorologists. Government scientists said Wednesday the storm has a 70 percent chance of smacking the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Some experts have compared it to the so-called Perfect Storm that struck off the coast of New England in 1991,  and was the subject of a famous movie, but that one didn’t hit as populated an area and is not comparable to what the East Coast may be facing. Nor is it like last year’s Halloween storm, which was merely an early snowstorm in the Northeast.

Irene Loses Strength, Still a Threat

Hurricane Irene land Saturday, losing some power but threatening a catastrophic run up the U.S. East Coast. More than 2 million people were told to flee, and New York City ordered the nation's biggest subway system shut down for the first time because of a natural disaster.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said the enormous storm's top sustained winds slipped to 90 mph early Saturday from 100 mph overnight but warned Irene would remain a hurricane as it moves up the mid-Atlantic coast, still on track to hit the New York City area and New England.

As the storm's outer bands of wind and rain lashed the North Carolina coast, knocking out power in places, authorities farther north begged people to get out of harm's way.

"Don't wait. Don't delay," said President Obama, who cut short his summer vacation and returned to Washington. "I cannot stress this highly enough: If you are in the projected path of this hurricane, you have to take precautions now."

A coastal town official in North Carolina said witnesses believed a tornado spawned by Irene lifted the roof off a car dealership warehouse in Belhaven on Friday night.

Forecasters said the core of Irene would make landfall in the next few hours, roll up the mid-Atlantic coast Saturday night and over southern New England on Sunday.

Hurricane warnings remain up and down the East Coast.

East Coast on Alert for Hurricane Irene

The East Coast is a busy place these days.

Still shaken by Tuesday's earthquake, the region braced Wednesday for Hurricane Irene, which threatened to wreck the plans of weekend beachgoers and disrupt the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial dedication Sunday on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The powerful hurricane was expected to dump several inches of rain Saturday as it churns along the Atlantic Coast.

And although it was still hundreds of miles away, meteorologists said it could produce stormy and treacherous conditions along the beaches of North Carolina, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey as it passes.

Forecasters said they expected the worst Saturday night, as the storm center passes off the Virginia capes. By noon Sunday, Irene is expected to be off Atlantic City, N.J., and accelerating north into cooler water.

Buffalo Feeling Brunt of Winter Storm

Pro sports teams and travelers trying to catch a flight have been in the same boat in places lie Buffalo where winter weather continues to cause problems.

The New England Patriots even had to spend an extra night in the area after their game against Buffalo because of the weather.

Here's a clip of a local newscast from Buffalo.

The Big Chill on the East Coast

A wall of cold air is set up perfectly along the East Coast and continues to deliver bone-chilling cold into the Deep South. All throughout Dixie, morning temperatures will hover in the 20's with wind chills as low as the single digits at times.

By the afternoon, temperatures will only warm up into the middle 30's. The record low maximum for the date is 34 degrees - our forecast high is 35. But the real problem will be the wind, which will whip at 15 to 25 mph at times creating afternoon wind chills in the 20's.

Overnight, we'll see lows dip below 20 degrees. Wind chills will again be right around 10 degrees with some places seeing single digit readings.

The cold air is even blowing as far south as Florida.

New record temperatures were set across South Florida Tuesday morning as the Arctic blast of cold air blew into the region.

Palm Beach International Airport, a new record low this morning 32 broke the old record of 33 set in 1966.

Vero Beach set a new record low this morning of 26, breaking the old record of 28 set in 1966!

There's another freeze warning tonight, with record lows possible again. The records tonight: PBIA -- 36 degrees; Vero Beach -- 35.

Bundle up.