Anne Arundel County Under Tropical Storm Watch

The National Weather Service issued a tropical storm watch for Anne Arundel and Prince George’s counties, meaning tropical storm conditions could hit the area within the next 48 hours.

Forecasters are now predicting that Hurricane Irene's path will hug closer to the coastline and could impact the area Saturday night. The storm could bring hurricane force wind, heavy rain and flooding to the area this weekend, according to The Weather Channel. 

As of 5 p.m., Hurricane Irene was located about 850 miles south of Baltimore.

The storm is also getting larger. Hurricane-force winds now extend up to 90 miles from the center (this morning it was 70 miles), and tropical-storm-force winds extend up to 290 miles from the center (this morning it was 255 miles). NOAA is reporting that Irene is producing swells that will cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along portions of the East Coast. It did not specify which portions.

Irene is still a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph.