Joaquin

NJ.com update at 7:17 AM on Hurricane Joaquin:

Hurricane Joaquin rapidly strengthened overnight and the latest track has the storm heading for New Jersey again.

The potential track for the hurricane, which increased to a Category 3 Wednesday night, has the storm heading north arriving off the coast of the mid-Atlantic states Sunday before making landfall in the Garden State late Monday.

The National Weather Service model released at 5 a.m. says the storm will be downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it hits New Jersey with winds between 39 and 73 mph.

However, uncertainty still revolves around the storm's course, according to meteorologists.

"I'm not sure that this is the most likely track," said Rob Reale a meteorologist at WeatherWorks, noting there is a good chance Joaquin makes landfall in North Carolina late Sunday.

Models still vary on the path — it could blow out to sea before making landfall or hit anywhere from the Carolinas to Boston — yet meteorologists seem to agree that it is still too far out to be certain.

"The hurricane itself hasn't moved much overnight and the pattern isn't that different than yesterday," said Reale. "The same possibilities [from yesterday] hold true today."

Last night on the weather forums, the consensus seemed to be a Carolinas hit.

This morning on the forums, the consensus seems to be the storm goes out to sea.

With that scenario, it is still possible to have some heavy rains, winds and flooding in the New Jersey/New York area, especially along the coast.

Dunno about you, but the Sandy experience has me watching this closely.

How about you?