James West

Hurricane Irene, as seen from space.

Editors' note: This is a basic primer on what's happening with Hurricane Irene. It is being regularly updated with the latest news and social-media coverage. Jump to the latest update or read more about the awesome—and terrifying—science of the storm.

Coming at us just days after a wide-reaching earthquake jolted the East Coast, Hurricane Irene is gathering steam for a possible landfall in that same area as soon as this weekend. But unlike the quake, Irene might be cause for real alarm, including warnings from experts that it could be the "most devastating storm to ever hit" states like New York and New Jersey. Read on for more info on Hurricane Irene.

How bad will it be? Pretty bad, if the predictions of weather experts and the beating already sustained by the Bahamas are any indication. With winds up to 105 mph, the storm was classified as a category two hurricane as of its landfall Saturday morning—the National Weather Service's way of saying that "extremely dangerous winds will cause extensive damage." Hurricane Katrina was a category three, and the deadliest hurricane in US history, the Galveston, Texas, disaster of 1900, was as a category four that took over 8,000 lives.

The governors of Virginia, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Connecticut, and New Jersey declared states of emergency Thursday, and on Wednesday the Federal Emergency Management Agency issued a warning for the entire East Coast. In North Carolina, over 200,000 people have already headed for higher ground, and a mandatory evacuation in New Jersey could affect up to 750,000. Damage projections are already up to $14 billion, air travel will most likely be disrupted, utilities could shut down, and the price of gas could rise as coastal refineries shut down. Even Major League Baseball could be affected. In short, it's going to be a rough weekend for the East Coast.

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