Hurricane Irene's Latest Track Brushes Near Coast

A powerful hurricane is on a collision course with the Outer Banks of North Carolina and is expected to continue on a path less than 100 miles from Atlantic City.

On Wednesday morning (Aug. 24), Hurricane Irene is a Category 3 (sustained winds of 111 to 130 mph) hurricane just north of Cuba. The National Hurricane Center predicts a track that will slam the Bahamas tonight and reach the North Carolina coast Saturday afternoon or evening.

After moving directly over North Carolina's Outer Banks, the storm is expected to move back out over the Atlantic Ocean until it hits land again—likely on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. With the storm still three or four days away, the exact track is uncertain. But the latest National Hurricane Center models show it passing within 100 miles of Atlantic City on Sunday.

As of Wednesday morning, hurricane force winds of 115 mph extended 40 miles from the center of the hurricane and tropical force winds (39 to 73 mph) reached 205 miles.

"The eye wall of Irene will pass just offshore Sunday," Alex Sosnowski, Accuweather senior meteorologist said in a Wednesday morning update. "Weather conditions will deteriorate Saturday into Saturday evening with wind and rain increasing. Periods of heavy rain, damaging sustained tropical storm force winds with hurricane-force wind gusts and coastal flooding are possible Saturday night and Sunday."

Depending on the track of the storm, Atlantic City could see building surf from the storm as early as Thursday. The waves would peak in size Friday and Saturday as the storm approaches New Jersey.