A rough week for the East Coast: Tracking Hurricane Irene

A rare 5.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled the east coast today will soon be a distant memory as our focus turns to the probable landfall of Hurricane Irene. This will be the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States since 2008.

As of 11pm est. August 23 Irene was a category one hurricane with sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. According to the National Hurricane Center the storm is forecast to gain in strength over the next day. Current forecasts call for a potential category 3 storm by the time it reaches the U.S. coast.

Forecasting a hurricane's exact path is a difficult task. The consensus is that the area from eastern North Carolina clear to New England lies directly in the storm's highest probable path. With this scenario, we could see a major hurricane slamming the the eastern seaboard as we head into this weekend.

There are many ways to track hurricanes, including a new feature on this blog found here. Some other favorites include Ibiseye (ranked #6 in Mashable's top 12 hurricane tracking sites), and of course the National Hurricane Center for all the latest.

If you live with the path of this storm please heed local media and follow all storm warnings and evacuation orders.