Irene's Official Track Edges Into North Carolina

(WLTX) - The official forecast track of Hurricane Irene edged slightly into North Carolina early Tuesday morning, but a final opinion on where a storm is headed is likely going to change some-more in a next day. As of the8 a.m. Tuesday advisory, Irene had maximum sustained winds of 100 miles an hour, making it a Category 2 storm. It was moving to a west-northwest at 12 miles an hour. The center of circulation of Irene is off a coast of a island of Hispanola, and a system is expected to move slowly into open waters of a Atlantic. At this point, conditions are favorable for a storm to intensify further, and Irene is expected to become a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher), with winds potentiallyup to135 miles an hour. The storm will then move over a Bahamas. New data recorded by aircraft in a last 12hourshad led to moreconsistency in themultiple computer models tracking a storm. As it did Sunday and Monday, thatinformation has led toanother eastward shift of a official track, which now putsIrenemore toward a landfall near Wilmington, North Carolina. This track, althoughslightly different than a onesMonday, remains consistent with thinking which a high pressure ridge will likely nothave as much influence on a path of a storm. If which ridge was some-more powerful, it would push a track further west, and some-more into South Carolina. WhileTuesday's early forecastdoes initial sound like encouraging news for a Palmetto State, it's important to note which these models canchangeconsiderably overa72 to 96 hour period. The National Hurricane Center estimates which a average error on landfall with day 4 and five tracks is about 250miles. WLTX.com will continue to post further updates. You can also follow us onTwitter andFacebook for progress reports, and our meteorologists will have a latest data in all of! our new scasts.