Sung to the tune by Dexys Midnight Runners....

I predict a big fizzle in the Northeast.

I hope you're right, Rob. I hope you're right.

We have rented a beachfront house down at Oak Island next weekend. Oak Island is just below Southport where the coast juts back in. Sun runs parallel to the beach rather than perpendicular. Storm is tracking to the east of the beach - so maybe our mini getaway won't be for naught.

Wish you all the best out east. Looks like this one could beat some records going back to the 1930's.

Down to a Cat 1. Weather Channel is struggling to find footage. One of their guys is standing in a crouch on the beach at Nags Head talking with the "command center". They did get a few shots of shingles and siding blowing off. There was also footage of tornado damage. Here in central NC, I would say "It is a blustery day".

Looked like NY had some nasty flooding but it was pretty weak by the time it got up north here.

My sympathies to the families of the 23 or so people who died since it began but I was glad to see it is pretty much a non event here in the Maritime's. We are last on it's trajectory and and looks like just some strong gusts left in it. Enough to knock a few trees down maybe since they are still full of leaves but not nearly as bad as say a good Nor'Easter winter storm that we are already used to.

Governor Perdue has proclaimed that the Outer Banks will be open for Labor Day Weekend. That is great and a testament to the fact that Irene was relatively week when she made landfall. Problem is with Hatteras Island itself. Hwy 12 is impassable in places even though the bridge withstood the forces. So this was a case of prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

We were fortunate here as well. We have an extensive basement waterproofing system, so I wasn't too worried about the rain, but the two things I did fear were getting a tree on the house and being without electricity for any extended period of time.

Luckily, neither happened. Never lost power, and there were no trees down at all. In contrast, with Isabel in 2003 there were dozens of trees knocked over in our neighborhood.

You're looking a little green around the gills.

Isabel, Irene... The 'I's have it, don't they?

I was listening to a radio show yesterday (my wife calls it "Old Man Radio"). The host was interviewing a Dr. Simon Atkins. Gist of the interview is that Irene was overhyped for TV ratings and that it was not a Cat 1 when it made landfall in the Northeast. Windspeeds indicated that it was a tropical depression?

And Now.......on to Katia.

I think Irene was a tropical depression when it hit NY.

We didn't have a gust over 35mph here even though it was forecast to still be a Category 1. Because of that, I posted something along the lines of "fizzle" on Facebook, yet removed my post out of embarrassment when I saw what was happening with the floods in the northern part of the state as well as Vermont and upstate NY.

It certainly WAS over-hyped for us regarding the wind speeds, but the flooding rains truly did a lot of damage.

I feel sympathetic to those affected.

Mark, I'm glad you guys are okay.

AND it was kind of amusing to see the East Coast Weather Hype Machine come of age. That's how it always is in Seattle whenever it might snow.

Hope somebody at The Weather Channel got rich.

Edit: Bonus Hurricane Irene autocorrect fails.