hurricane irene from UK
 

Flying in to JFK on Monday afternoon from UK. Hurricane path appears to hit NYC around Monday. To avoid flight problems/delays/disruption etc. should we try for earlier flights say on Saturday or Sunday or should we wait till hurricane passes and fly later? Do the winds increase in front of hurricanes or in the rear?

weather2travel.gov good UK site to monitor

Personally always wise to wait till the storm passes

It usually does very quickly...

The "Eye Wall" following winds are always the strongest

from personal experience so best to just wait

www.guotwright.com insurance always wise for me.

Good luck!

I would try to reschedule later in the week. If you arrive before the storm, you will have a couple of days of heat, humidity, and heavy rain, entirely apart from wind issues. If you arrive a day or so after, perhaps Thursday, you can expect some disruption but clear skies and dry air for the Labor Day weekend.

Having said that, you are not the only people to whom this will have occured, and you need to get on it right away.

The situation is developing continuously, but you can watch thee bestt information on

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/

the government's hurricane center, although asking where the storm will go at this point is a bit like asking if it will rain today in the UK. It will certainly happen somewhere.

On the storm's currently likely track, you can expect Washington, Philadelphia, Newark, New York, and Boston to have significant cancellations and delays. The issue here is that these are alternative points of entry for EU/UK/US flights when they are diverted, and they are all likely to be negatively affected.

Good luck!

weather2travel.com quotewright.com sorry link dyslexic today

As a gulf veteran of Camille Frederick George Ivan Katrina

and many others always was to respect the power ot these storms

and wait till they pass...

I'd keep the reservation you have, unless you have tons of flexibility. There are going to be cancelled flights and seats are going to be sparse. If you want to change, try Tuesday or Wednesday

The forecasts show that this will be a very fast moving storm arriving some time Sunday to early Monday. Outside the 6-12 hrs or so of active rain & wind you will likely get normal late summer weather which has been beautiful of late.

Switching from Monday to Sunday may do you no good since Irene may blow through NY on Sunday. Your Monday flight would track directly over the remnants of the storm which shouldn't be a problem.

My guess is that Sunday is the worst day to plan to fly.
Monday will likely be ok, but if you can switch to a Saturday flight that would definitely put your flight ahead of the storm.

Typically by the time a hurricane reaches the NY area it weakens to a tropical storm. There can still be a LOT of rain and winds, but it's rare that the winds will be hurricane force any longer.

www.weather.com has good Irene info.
http://www.weather.com/weather/hurri...ats_2011-08-23

Our wether people are talking about the storm hitting late Sat and Sun - by Mon there may still be delays but the worst should be over. Much better after than sitting here is a really nasty storm and having a day of vacation ruined. But- I think your safe choices are either Friday or Mon - not the weekend.

Seems to be a challenging ..... at this moment, changing your flight (if possible) may not assure a more reliable choice. As already pointed out, this storm likely will impact most airports along Eastern seaboard ..... right now Irene is huge, being 400 miles wide. Also, keep in mind, when a large storm impacts one section of country, there are "ripple effects" ..... consequently, planes get out of position and equipment which would have been in the UK ready to fly to USA, isn't there.

Coming earlier is not a good idea, IMO. If later in the week is available to you and fits your plans, that might be OK if you want to avoid all the immediate aftermath of a messy storm.

Winds increase to the east of the hurricane's path.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphiric Administration - the "official" weather folks in the US, it should all be over by Monday afternoon. Sunday and particularly Sunday night would be worst. Your flight to the US might well be delayed though if JFK takes any significant damage - it is in a very vulnerable spot.

Thanks for the advice, we don't get storms like you do so the replies were appreciated. Advice not to come early is sound so we will try to come on Wednesday if our Monday flight is cancelled.

Ta

I'm not sure if socialworker is referring to the "messy aftermath" only as it pertains to flying, or to the mess hurricanes tend to cause in the cities they go through, but one time I flew to NY knowing a hurricane was headed that way. I did have to overnight in Detroit, but was fortunate to get on the first plane out the next morning. That day in the city was spectacular -- spectacular weather and the city glistened. You never would have know the it had even rained had you not be aware of the hurricane otherwise.

I would not come in Saturday, Sunday or Monday. I would wait until at least Tuesday. This storm looks pretty serious and looks like it will arrive as a hurricane and not a tropical storm. We, on the north shore of LI, are watching closely and taking it very seriously.

By messy aftermath, I was referring to both the potential for actual physical damage from winds and water (from the huge downpours that can be as much as 10 inches of rain, and possible wind destruction from ~100 mph winds/gusts) as well as all of the rescheduling necessary for passengers.

The current forecast has Irene passing through NY before noon on Sunday and long gone by Monday morning. I think your best bet is to stick with your current Monday flight.

georgec - the site that you want to watch is www.noaa.gov

As of now, the storm should be arriving a Sunday afternoon and evening into the night. The weather report for JFK on Monday is mostly sunny and windy with a high in the low 80sF. As the day goes on, it will improve. Again, the problem would be any damage to JFK that could delay arrivals.

Potentially useful (if a tad disconcerting) but gives a good overall picture of how hurricanes travel for those unfamiliar with them, and a reminder of the power of them for those who have not seen one for a while.

http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/new...e-worst-no.asp

It is not just airport damage that you have to worry about. Planes will be scattered all over -- some because they were evacuated, some because they were diverted, and some because they were held on the ground at the point of origin.

If your plane is cancelled it may be days before you can be rescheduled. It happens every winter and in hurricane season.

Thus, if you can reschedule yourselves for the end of the week, do it. If you can't, hope that your flight (a) has an aircraft and (b) is allowed to take off for NY.

<<The current forecast has Irene passing through NY before noon on Sunday and long gone by Monday morning.>> But if it hits as a Cat 1 (which is the intensity the weather service is currently predicting although the track is still somewhat unclear) the effects will linger on. I think many people in the area are unaware of just how vulnerable the area is to storm surge (not to mention loss of electricity). If you want to see for yourself, click on Category One and pan the map up to the New York area: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/ssurge/risk/index.shtml?gm

Here's hoping it goes harmlessly out to sea and none of that happens, but be aware that although the hurricane may be gone, problems may still remain.

I think the realistic problems in the NYC area are high winds downing trees which will bring down the power lines - and it may take 24 to 48 hours to get that fixed in the suburbs. But the airports are right next to the bay - and a large storm surge can back up flights in and out - and mean planes in the wrong places.

Once you get to Manhattan you're fine. (Our power and phone lines are underground and many streets don't have trees - and subways and buses will be running.) But there may be airport delays and it could take a long time to get in from the airports.

The last time I recall a major hurricane hitting there was so much rain that the storm sewers took a while to empty - meanng lots of big puddles - but this was gone within 12 to 24 hours.

The areas subject to storm surges and beach erosion are in the outer boroughs or suburbs and quite small and not places most visitors get to,