What The Jersey Shore Needs To Know About Hurricane Matthew

The very powerful Hurricane Matthew is already causing havoc and destruction as it's path takes it past Haiti, but what impact will the storm have on the Jersey Shore?

We asked our meteorologist Dan Zarrow his thoughts and here's what he had to say. First of all, he emphasizes that there is a good deal of time between now and any effects we may deal with, so things can certainly change. Here are some other points he made.

* Matthew is an incredibly powerful storm - it's maintained at least category 4 strength for over 2 days now.

* Since yesterday morning, model consensus for Matthew's forecast track has pulled closer to the U.S. East Coast.  That's bad news for NJ - the closer to the coast the center of the storm is, the bigger the headache.

* There is at least one model that pulls the storm eastward once it passes the Carolinas.  So an "out to sea" forecast is still on the table... for now...

* Timing is still a bit questionable too.  Storm impacts could start as early as Saturday and last as long as Monday.

* We will have a better sense for the forecast once Matthew pushes into the Bahamas.  That will happen tomorrow (Wednesday).

We will, of course continue to keep you updated, and you can get the latest on Hurricane Matthew by following Meteorologist Dan Zarrow's weather blog.