Everybody is watching the track of Hurricane Isabel at the moment. Fortunately it's dropped from a massive category 5 hurricane (that's as big as it gets) down to a category 2 at present, although the wind speeds have increased a little over the last 12 hours. Right now it's at the very top end of category 2 with just under 110mph wind speeds. Regardless of the recent weakening, it's still expected to be dangerous when it hits the barrier islands on Thursday morning (EST) with a storm surge of up to 11 feet. I've been frequently switching on the weather channel for updates as nearly 250,000 people have been advised to evacuate in North Carolina and Virginia coastal areas - the weather guys there have been predicting swells of up to 25feet! Apparently it is expected to pick up speed as it approaches the coast. I'm wondering if there will be much swell reaching up to NYC in the weekend or early next week as a result.

..update at Thursday 18th 7:01am..

From weather.com: Winds at the buoy well east of Charleston, SC reached near hurricane force before midnight, while wave heights ranged near 30 feet. That buoy quit reporting soon after that..

..update at Thursday 18th 2:30pm..

The hurricane made landfall a while ago and picked up speed (movement north speed, not windspeed) which is actually a good thing as it means there won't be as much rain accumulation and hence less flooding. I watched a little while ago as huge waves came in at Virginia Beach. The pier there had waves coming over the top of it (which means 30 foot easy) and as the weather.com guys were filming it, a big wave took out the end of the pier.. radical.