The storm formed near Cape Verde on August 4 and crossed the Atlantic, turning northward around Bermuda before being absorbed by an extratropical cyclone while situated southeast of Newfoundland.

Although there were initial fears of a landfall in the United States due to uncertainty in predicting the storm's track, Hurricane Irene never approached land and caused no recorded damage; however, swells up to 8 ft (2.4 m) and strong rip currents resulted in one fatality in Long Beach, New York.

A vigorous tropical wave moved off the west coast of Africa on August 1, initially weakening due to cooler sea surface temperatures.

The sudden threat to the storm's existence prompted National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecaster Lixion Avila to comment, "How little we know about the genesis of tropical cyclones.

[4] Contrary to these expectations, warmer waters and less wind shear allowed Irene to become gradually more organized while south of Bermuda, and it became a tropical storm once again early on August 11.

[5] The uncertainty ended when a weakness in the subtropical ridge allowed Irene to turn sharply northward, which caused the storm to pass midway between the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Bermuda on August 15.

[6] Irene entered a region of increased wind shear and began to weaken, and as a result it was downgraded to a tropical storm early on August 18, when it was 520 miles (830 km) south of Cape Race, Newfoundland.