By Rebecca Boyle Posted 08.26.2011 at 2:50 pm 16 Comments

Hurricane Irene Swirls Northward Hurricane Irene is seen swallowing nearly the entire eastern seaboard in this satellite image from Friday morning. The image of Earth's full disk was captured by the GOES-13 satellite at 10:45 a.m. EDT. Click here to embiggen. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

If you live in the eastern time zone, odds are you're battening down the hatches in advance of Hurricane Irene, a Category 2 monster threatening much of the eastern seaboard. Coastal communities are under mandatory evacuation orders in several states. This NASA Goddard image from Friday morning makes it clear this storm is no joke.

Evacuations are under way in several boroughs in New York, which apparently has never happened before, and the city’s subway system is shutting down at noon tomorrow. Multiple states are under emergency status, Atlantic City is closing casinos, college students are not allowed to move into their dorms, and disaster planners are bracing for power outages from the Carolinas to New England.

Irene has weakened slightly, but the storm could strengthen before it makes landfall, which is expected to happen in North Carolina on Saturday. From there, it will track north through the Chesapeake Bay and the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia peninsula, eventually moving through New York City, where it could still be a Category 2 storm. It will eventually pass through Quebec before petering out in the Labrador Sea.

Stay safe, everybody.

16 Comments

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Delkomatic
08/26/11 at 3:21 pm

Man How sweet would it be to some how ride in side this bad boy!!

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BubbaGump
08/26/11 at 3:30 pm

Look at North and South America land mass and the absence of clouds. On the west coast of the continents the clouds seem to stop right at the edge of land. It’s just interesting to see. I can only guess that the temperature over land verse the temperature over the ocean causes the block of cloud cover at this point of time the picture is taken.

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Delkomatic
08/26/11 at 3:35 pm

I know I live in AZ and its 110 right now which is HOT AS HECK

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sacridias
08/26/11 at 4:11 pm

First the 23 Million old star exploding story, now this 2 week old report. I really need a more current news feed :D...
Perhaps instead of waiting science to give me the news if I care about current events I should go look at the actual news.
Neah, I like life oblivious, unless we get visited by aliens, I would want to know that right away.

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I4Future
08/26/11 at 4:23 pm

Enjoy the Hurricane New England

Cheers from south central Louisiana!

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pheonix1012
08/26/11 at 4:45 pm

@sacridias

lol, Yeah some news isn't worth knowing right away. Of course this is a little different if you're in that storms path.

@I4Future

That's cold...

But a little ironically hilarious too.

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BubbaGump
08/26/11 at 5:23 pm

@sacridias, PoPSci would enjoy to make you happy and report of the aliens in your home, but the aliens so extremely advance at stealth technology and cloning humans, the story is still in development, so sorry. But rumor has it; your replacement clone is almost complete.....

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JediMindset
08/26/11 at 5:55 pm

first an earthquake in my state now a deadly hurricane? yep looks like the Mayan prophecies and Nostradamus were right. unusual weather, wars, famine etc. 2012 is coming!!!

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shutterpod
08/26/11 at 7:51 pm

Jedipeanutbrain lolol

There are two typhoons slamming the Phillipines near Taiwan, hope those people don't fare too badly either, otherwise our clothing costs might increase!

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wether101
08/26/11 at 8:37 pm

OMG its coming 2 us this weekend im gonna tape it and then the damage omg again i cant believe this wow wow wow u know i would neva expect this coming just wow so yeah luck west lucky lucky lucky well go outside and stretch ur shirt out so it will blow just make sure u dont blow away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:):):)

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shutterpod
08/26/11 at 11:05 pm

It's almost unbelievable how beautiful our planet is from space! What an amazing image!!

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BubbaGump
08/27/11 at 11:26 am

Nope! Observing this picture of earth, I see no crop circles. It seems the aliens have left and life on earth is safe!

@shutterpod. I agree with you completely, our planet is amazing and beautiful. The image is so inspiring.

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RisingPhoenix
08/28/11 at 2:35 pm

"Click to embiggen" made me laugh.

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BubbaGump
08/29/11 at 7:10 pm

I SEE ME! I SEE ME! If you squint really hard and look up and to the left, kinda sorta straight, I am there. I am there waving. Yea, that's me. Yup, I got a hair cut. Nice huh. What you don't like it, well fine, I am going back in my house. Now you can't see me any more, so there.

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JediMindset
08/30/11 at 2:30 pm

@shutterpod
my name is not jedipeanutbrain. did you get a kick out of that?

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rani yako
09/02/11 at 8:55 am

nice watching nasa
god be with the ppl who live there



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