Hurricane Irene, the first of the 2011 season, is on a destructive path along the East Coast.
Irene took three lives in North Carolina and one in Virginia. Additionally, the Category 1 hurricane has effectively closed down New York, the nation's largest city. Irene is packing winds of about 90 miles per hour and is churning over North Carolina and Virginia.
More than 2.5 million Americans along the East Coast I-95 corridor are under evacuation orders, including 300,000 in New York. The storm has led to the closure of all metropolitan airports.
NASA managed to catch Irene as it approaches the U.S. Take a look at the video below and read up on what NASA has to say about Irene.
Hurricane Irene began to pound Virginia on Saturday, yet its governor warned the worst is yet to come. NASA/NOAA GOES ProjectNASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite radar saw the inner core of Hurricane Irene for a fourth time on Friday afternoon, August 25.
NASAInfrared image of Hurricane Irene taken at 1:59 p.m. EDT (17:59 UTC) on Aug. 26, 2011 by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft. Areas colored purple represent the storm's coldest cloud-top temperatures and areas of heaviest precipitation. NASA/JPL-CaltechOcean-surface wind speeds and directions for Hurricane Irene six hours prior to the storm's landfall in North Carolina on Aug. 27. The highest wind speeds are shown in yellows, oranges and reds. The arrows indicate wind direction. ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech
