Irene now Category 2

Hurricane Irene on visible satellite image this evening.

A hurricane hunter has reported 100mph winds with Hurricane Irene this evening. That makes the storm, the first hurricane of 2011, now a category 2 on the Saffir Simpson scale. The storm is expected to maintain a northwest motion at 10mph and skirt the northern coast of Hispaniola before heading into the Bahamas Tuesday. Forecasters expect Irene to become a major hurricane on Tuesday. The forecast track of the storm has it approaching the southeast coast of the US as a major storm by Saturday. The latest guidance has the storm now missing Florida and threatening the Carolina's.