Susie Madrak woke up early this morning to the symptoms of a heart attack. Immediately after calling 911 she wrote a blog entry.

According to a later posting by Chris Baldwin, she is being kept for observation, but hospitals don’t release any real information.

Update: Susie is home, but has to prepare for Irene, so she won’t comment until later.

Position: 14.1N 33.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: West-Northwest [295°] near 9 mph [15 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 35 mph [ 55 kph].
Wind Gusts: 45 mph [ 70 kph].
Minimum central pressure: 1009 mb.

Currently about 585 miles [940 km] West of the Cape Verde Islands.

The present forecast doesn’t have it threatening any land areas, but you can’t be certain.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 28.3N 77.3W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North [350°] near 14 mph [22 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 115 mph [185 kph].
Wind Gusts: 150 mph [240 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 290 miles [465 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 80 miles [130 km].
Minimum central pressure: 942 mb ↓.

Currently about 490 miles [ 785 km] South-Southwest of Cape Hatteras, NC.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for Grand Bahama, the Abaco Islands, and coastal North Carolina from Little River Inlet north to the Virginia border.

A Hurricane Watch is in effect for the coast from the Virginia border north to Sand Hook, New Jersey.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the coast from Edisto Beach, South Carolina to Little River Inlet, North Carolina

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Chesapeake Bay from Smith Point northward and the tidal Potomac.

Irene is a huge storm, almost 600 miles across. If it just moves up the coast with the eye 100 miles off shore it will cause massive destruction. It is forecast to spin up to category 4 sometime today, but it doesn’t need any more strength. It is over warm water and moving fast enough that upwelling of cooler water from the depths is not a problem.

They are now showing a more easterly track that earlier. If you live on the East Coast north of Georgia, you should be watching this storm.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]