Irene - what was the furthest north hurricane wind obs

[mitchell]

I'm curious about how far north along the track were there any official reporting stations (met. buoys included) that actually reported sustained winds of hurricane force. My limited research indicates that this storm passed many reporting stations from the Virginia Beach area northward up the Delmarva, Jersey, etc as a cat 1 without seeing much in the way of sustained winds over 50-60.

Hoping I'm wrong. I realize this might seem like a pointed or accusatory question...maybe so, but if anyone has seen any data i'd appreciate it.

[BigA]

To be fair, the hurricane center stated that the winds were confined to a small area east of the center as it was moving up the mid-Atlantic.

I don't know about sustained, but I know Rhode Island had a gust to 83, and supposedly Long Island had a gust to 91, but that one may be less reliable.

[tobol.7uno]

This image was posted on my Facebook page it show the max winds recorded across the northeast.

[Category 5]

Can't say I saw Hurricane Force Winds for sure in Long Branch, couple gusts looked over 65mph, sustained was in the 50s at the peak. I can only estimate by eye. I measured 42 sustained gusting to 56 but that was long before the worst of it.

I'm going to assume the Hurricane force winds were just offshore.

[somethingfunny]

Unless you count the tops of skyscrapers or mountaintops, I think it's very unlikely that sustained hurricane force winds occurred over any land north of the Outer Banks. Land observations are typically much lower than aircraft measurements - even if Irene was still operationally a Category One at landfall in Little Egg Harbor, NJ.

[CrazyC83]

Once beyond Virginia, the hurricane conditions were only over water well to the east.

[mitchell]

Once beyond Virginia, the hurricane conditions were only over water well to the east.

Thanks for the feedback everyone...
I cant even find any marine reporting stations north of north carolina which reported a sustained hurricane force wind.
And the storm tracked near, slightly west of, or slightly east of quite a few coastal observing stations along the eastern shore of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey as a Cat 1.

[CrazyC83]

Once beyond Virginia, the hurricane conditions were only over water well to the east.

Thanks for the feedback everyone...
I cant even find any marine reporting stations north of north carolina which reported a sustained hurricane force wind.
And the storm tracked near, slightly west of, or slightly east of quite a few coastal observing stations along the eastern shore of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey as a Cat 1.

Recon supported hurricane conditions about 100 miles east of the center up to about 39.5N latitude. But the distance away makes me wonder if it was more subtropical than tropical. HURDAT should only have NC1 (or 2), VA1 since no other coastal state saw sustained hurricane conditions.

[beoumont]

It has been my observation that when intercepting a landfalling hurricane:

If one gets to exactly to where the eye/wallcloud first makes landfall, and you are right near the shoreline, the maximum gusts observed will be equal to what the last advisory stated was the highest sustained wind of the storm.

This is a general "rule", of course; coming from intercepting 78 hurricanes or high-end tropical storms since 1965.