Irene gone, Jose almost gone, and Katia soon to be...

Hurricane Irene fully transitioned to an extra-tropical cyclone late Sunday, and today it continues to weaken while its remnants move into northeast Canada. You can check the rest of www.wtvr.com for full Hurricane Irene coverage and recap, but here's a quick look at some of the worst of the storm.
Strongest Wind Gusts:

Highest Rainfall Totals:

As a result of Irene's heavy rainfall, we made up our year-to-date rainfall deficit to the exact amount! Check the statistics out:

As for the Great Dismal Swamp wildfire burning in Southeast Virginia, it's out! According to this morning's update on the Active Fire Mapping Program, the "Lateral West" fire is no longer considered an "incident." Rainfall totals in that part of the state were 10"+.

The mouth of the Chesapeake Bay also reported a surge of 4 feet, and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel surge level matched the record level of Hurricane Isabel from 2003 (approximately 7.5 feet).

Activity in the tropics continues to ramp up, as is typical for this time of the tropical season (see the activity graph here):


If you blinked, you missed Tropical Storm Jose's development this weekend, and it's expected to weaken this afternoon well north of Bermuda. Here's the Monday morning update on Jose:

And Jose will likely be history by this afternoon as it moves into the cooler North Atlantic waters and encounters more wind shear:


A strong, large wave off the western coast of Africa moved south of the Cape Verde Islands Sunday into early Monday, and now we have Tropical Depression #12. This system is already strengthening and may be named Tropical Storm Katia later today, and may even become our second hurricane of the 2011 season by mid- to end-week. What may become Katia will not impact any landmasses through the end of this week.
Stay with CBS 6, we'll keep you ahead of the storm.
--Meteorologist Carrie Rose
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Rain Stats Updated

The rainfall from Irene set a new 24-hour record for Richmond International Airport, shattering the old record from 1899.

This significant rainfall also helped erase the 5" rainfall deficit for the year, and place the monthly and seasonal stats into surplus territory.

The coming week will be mainly dry, so these numbers will drop a bit.

Irene will wind down overnight

Hurricane Irene produced damage similar to what we experienced in Hurricane Isabel in 2003, from wind, power outages, and rainfall. The storm surge at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay is at about 4 feet, and earlier this evening, the water level at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel peaked near the record level from Hurricane Isabel in 2003. Rainfall amounts have ranged 5"-10" mainly along and east of I-95, with a drastic drop-off in rain totals the farther west away from I-95 and Irene. Richmond set a new daily record rainfall today, with more than 5" of rainfall (and still raining as of this blog update).

Here are some of the highest wind gusts measured today in Virginia:
83 mph Mathews Co on Chesapeake Bay
76 mph Williamsburg
71 mph Richmond International Airport
68 mph Virginia Beach
67 mph Langley Air Force Base in Southeast VA
66 mph Chesapeake Beach
63 mph Downtown Richmond (Roof of Dominion Building)

And here are some of the highest rainfall totals as of this posting (still raining):
9.6" Wakefield
8.5" Newland
8.0" Suffolk
7.3" Norfolk
7.0" Williamsburg
5.3" Richmond International Airport
5.0" Chester

Hurricane Irene will continue to move toward New England overnight, slamming into Long Island tomorrow. As of this blog posting, you can see Irene's center of circulation over the Atlantic Ocean east of Virginia's Eastern Shore. Skies are already clearing in far southwest Virginia!

Stay with CBS6, we'll keep you ahead of the storm.
--Meteorologist Carrie Rose