jinftl wrote:Katia is as far north now as irene was when she was just north of hispanola...the level of concern over Katia should be much less right now than it was for Irene...and if there was no Irene, this wouldn't be getting nearly as much attention. Once an area has been impacted by a storm, it is natural to think every storm is going to follow the same track! Until the U.S. is in the 5-day cone, the concern level should be 'monitor'.
Actually in looking back at most of the big storms to affect the NE US, Irene was kind of an outlier in how far south she was compared to the others. Most were north of the islands and north of the Bahamas.
Also, it's not unheard of for multiple storms to impact the same area in the same season - Carol/Edna both hit the NE in 1954, Bertha/Fran NC 1996, Dennis/Floyd NC 1999, Frances/Jeanne EFL 2004, etc.