Clark, what do you see as her current heading? most of the convection is wrapping from the southeast side of the storm, giving the appearance of a NW movement. Is this a true NW movement, or is the center moving from east to west under the "wrapping convection." I'm interested because of the effect of the ULL she is nearing. If there is a weakness, I believe Irene needs to take advantage of it now (and might be doing so) as she's strengthening. there may only be a smal window for her to go out to sea, as the ridge builds westward during the next few days, and there is a "handover" to a ridge building in from the west. IMO she needs to make it to 28N by Friday night to get out of dodge, and that would mean a fairly hard NW motion. If she stays on a WNW course <290 "til saturday, she ain't going north of 32N. Cheers!!