Hurricane “Irma” is now a monster tropical cyclone the size of Texas with category 5 winds of 185 mph.

According to the National Hurricane Center it also holds the record for the strongest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic Basin (excluding the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico). Atmospheric conditions do not favor weakening and no change of direction is expected before the weekend as it travels west toward Florida. The eye of “Irma” is clearly larger than the U.S Virgin Islands it will pass near and emergency plans have been activated along the projected path.

Here is the Tuesday evening satellite image along with the National Hurricane Center cone and both the GFS and European forecast tracks. In a bizarre twist of fate both forecast models currently have “Irma” making landfall in separate U.S. locations, but on the same day…September 11th.

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Last week “Irma’s” path was forecast to track through a tiny area known as a “Herbert Box”, one of two regions in the tropical Atlantic that are indicators of a strong hurricane striking Florida. In “Irma’s” case the track has now passed through Herbert Box #1 located over the U.S. Virgin Islands just east of Puerto Rico between 15° and 20° north latitude and 60° to 65° west longitude.

This box is an indicator for storms between June and early September. The 2nd Herbert Box is over the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean between 15° and 20° north latitude and 80° to 85° west longitude and it is an indicator for storms between late September and late October. Both boxes measure roughly 335 miles by 335 miles in size.

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Many of the hurricanes that have passed through the Herbert Box #1 form in the far eastern Atlantic like “Irma” did.  To qualify as a possible threat to Florida they must have 110 mph winds and track through the box rather than forming outside the box like Katrina in 2005 or crossing the box as a weak hurricane or tropical storm.

Why is box #1 a good indicator for “Irma”? The prevailing winds are towards Florida from this location and there is still ample room for greater intensification before landfall. However, a storm passing anywhere outside this box could still lead to a Florida strike, but the steering winds are less favorable for those storms.

Some of the destructive and deadly storms that passed through the Herbert Boxes before striking Florida were the unnamed storms in 1926, 1928, 1933 and 1935, Donna, Betsy, David, Inez, Cleo, Georges and Francis. One major hurricane that missed the box and barely missed Florida was the giant Floyd in 1999 which turned away from Florida at the last minute.  Both Katrina in 2005 and Andrew in 1992, formed outside of the Herbert box yet still struck Florida. In case you are wondering…Hurricane “Harvey” last month did not cross through the Herbert Box.

The two boxes are named after Paul Herbert, a former forecaster at the National Hurricane Center. He looked at hurricanes after 1900 and found a correlation between hurricanes with winds above 110 mph which had struck South Florida after passing through one of these two boxes.

(Hurricane Frances, 2004)

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(Hurricane Georges, 1995)

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(Hurricane Katrina, 2005)

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((Hurricane Andrew, 1992)

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((Hurricane Harvey, 2017)

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Police are searching for a group of armed robbers after they stormed a jewelry store at a New Jersey mall with a gun, the Mayor's Office says.

The group of four, all in dark clothing, masks and caps, held up the jewelers on 5th inside Jersey Gardens Mall in Elizabeth Tuesday morning, two police sources told News 4. One was armed with the semi-automatic gun.

“I was shaking – very nervous,” said Maggie Vasquez, a mall worker who witnessed the incident. “I ran and just started yelling, ‘gun, gun, run, run.”

Vanessa Rosie, an employee at the boutique next to the jewelry store, said she heard a woman screaming, so she ran to the bathroom out of fear. When Rosie finally came out, she said she saw one person running away.

Despite shouts and reports of a shooting, there were no shots fired, according to sources.

As Vasquez described, “(The robbers) ran into our store, and I believe a car was waiting for them out here.”

The Mayor's Office confirmed the suspects fled in a dark Audi with blacked-out windows – a vehicle police believe is stolen. It was not initially known how much the robbers got away with.

After the incident, cops canvassed the mall for evidence. Upon reviewing surveillance video, they believe the car headed to Staten Island. There, a similar robbery occurred at a phone store, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives, Robert Boyce. Police are investigating if the two events are connected.

By the afternoon, business at the mall was back to normal, but the Jewelry Exchange store remain closed as police search for the suspects and finish the investigation.

More than 1 million chests of drawers that pose a threat of tipping over onto children have been recalled, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday.

One injury involving the chests has been reported to the agency: a four-year-old boy was hurt when one tipped over. Anyone who has one that isn't anchored to the wall is urged to move it to a place where children can't access it. (See a list of recalled models below.)

About 1.6 million Ameriwood-made Mainstays chests were sold across the country at Walmart and other stores from April 2009 until last May.

Ameriwood is offering a free repair kit with feet for the chests and a device that anchors them to the wall. The company can be reached at 877-222-7460 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT on weekdays, and online at Ameriwood.com.

The Mainstays models being recalled are 5412012WP, 5412301WP, 5412328WP, 5412015WY, 5412301WY, 5412012PCOM, 5412015PCOM, 5412026PCOM, 5412213PCOM, 5412214PCOM, 5412301PCOM, 5412317PCOM and 5412328PCOM. Model numbers can be found on the instruction manual.

The chests are 40 5/16 inches high by 27 11/16 inches wide by 14 11/16 inches deep and have four drawers with a decorative pull on each and plastic drawer glides. They came in these colors: alder, black forest, white, weathered oak, walnut and ruby red.

A New Jersey elementary school principal has made it his mission to be an exemplar of kindness to his students – even off of school grounds.

Camden Elementary School in Newark runs on the motto, “We Care.” That’s why its principal, Sam Garrison, started a program called Camden Cares.

Camden Cares classrooms are known to stock extra necessities such as food and clothing, in addition to a washer and dryer, for families who fall on hard times.

“We believe that a community will make a school. So if we take care of our community, in return the community will take care of the school,” Garrison said.

Over the summer, Garrison and his staff decided to walk around the community and knock on the doors of his students for a friendly check in.

During a routine walk a few weeks ago the group discovered that two students were living in a home that had been completely burned down. The Rojas family had lost everything inside.

“It’s going to be hard for these kids to come to school when they just had a fire,” Garrison said – but he recalled that the Rutgers University Police Department had held a backpack drive earlier in the summer.

In a powerful act of collaboration, officers from the Rutgers University Police Department gathered the leftover backpacks and personally delivered them to the school, where they filled them with supplies from a Camden Cares classroom.

“I think there’s certain things that you do in life that you’ll always remember,” said Rutgers University Police Chief Carmelo Huertas.

A few days before school began Tuesday, principal Garrison, along with two teachers, brought the Rojas family new backpacks to the children’s surprise.

Lady Rojas, the boy’s mother, was speechless watching her son excitedly examine his new school supplies.

“She feels grateful for all the things the children needed – the backpacks, the uniforms. She’s grateful for the school and for the Rutgers Police Department for helping out,” a friend translated.

Garrison says he plans to continue checking in on families throughout the school year through the Camden Cares program. He also plans to keep the Camden Cares classroom stocked at all times for families who need things in a pinch.

“I think that’s what it’s about. This idea of ‘let’s create good,’ and ‘let’s be proactive in doing good’ and then good will result,” Garrison said.

“You hope that (students) take that experience and be able to pass that on and pay it forward,” Huertas said.

In Jenkintown, Manor College will open its brand new campus food pantry Wednesday. It is called the Bird Feed and it is the culmination of an idea brought up by the student senate. The pantry meets a growing need of college students who are not sure if they can afford their next meal. There are other colleges that also provide services for food insecure students across our area.

As the state awaits relief funds, the focus is finding new homes for hurricane Harvey victims which includes pets that were rescued from the flood. The animals arrived Wednesday at the Brandywine Valley SPCA in West Chester, Pennsylvania. NBC10's Pamela Osborne explains why these animals were brought here from Texas.

Travel is already being impacted as Category 5 Hurricane Irma strikes the Caribbean. NBC10's Matt DeLucia telling what travelers need to know about flights.

A Jersey shore town banning the act of so-called “beach spreading” got a lot of people asking: What exactly is it?

“Beach spreading” is the act of claiming a large swath of sand for you and yours by putting up canopies, large tents, cabanas and other items. The practice can annoy people just trying to lay down a beach towel and/or beach chair on Jersey's well-known sand congestion.

Officials in the northern beach town of Belmar fought back against the temporary tent communities by voting to ban “beach spreading” effective next summer season (Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day). The town claimed the ban will help alleviate crowding on the sand during the busy season. It has gotten so bad that there hasn’t been much room to play beach games like volleyball, according to APP.com.

Belmar did allow for a few exceptions for beach umbrellas and small tents to protect small children from the sun.

NBC10 reached out to Belmar officials about how they plan on enforcing the spread regulations.

Philly.com put the act of “beach spreading” into the spotlight with a July feature focused on how large set-ups featuring canopies started taking up space in Sea Isle City. NBC10 reached out to Sea Isle Mayor Len Desiderio to see if the town is considering a ban.

Other Shore towns, including Long Beach and Seaside Heights, have already enacted similar measures to keep “beach spreading” from ... ahem ... spreading.

About two hours before her life came to a violent end, Jenna Burleigh reached out to a pair of friends asking for their help, law enforcement sources tell NBC10.

The 22-year-old Temple University film major called a childhood friend about 30 minutes before closing time at a North Philadelphia pub early Thursday morning. The friend had been at the bar with his roommate and Burleigh. But he and his roommate left to get food shortly after arriving.

The friend missed the call and Burleigh left a voicemail, sources said. A short time later, Burleigh sent a text message asking for help.

Sources said Burleigh also sent a direct message over Instagram to another friend with a similar plea.

It’s unclear whether Burleigh’s messages came because she was fearful for her life or something else. Sources said they were sent between 1:15 and 1:30 a.m. Thursday — 30 minutes before Pub Webb, the bar along N. 15th Street, closed for the night.

Neither friend saw the messages until the next morning. They're said to be very upset about missing her attempts to reach them.

Burleigh left the bar around 2 a.m. with Josh Hupperterz, the man charged with her murder, and then went back to his apartment a few blocks away, investigators said.

Burleigh was killed about 4 a.m. Thursday inside the apartment along N. 16th Street, police said. Hupperterz allegedly stuffed her body into a blue plastic storage bin and moved it to his mother’s home in Jenkintown. Sources said the 29-year-old then used a Lyft ridesharing car to transport it to his grandmother’s home in Wayne County, Pennsylvania.

A search warrant for the Paupack Township, Pa. property newly obtained by NBC10 details how Hupperterz's grandfather, George Stabilito, found Burleigh's body.

Stabilito told state police he was doing some maintenance Saturday on the E. Shore Drive property — owned by his estranged wife — when he made the discovery, according to the warrant.

He was checking a lakefront shed for snakes when he noticed the blue plastic bin. When he opened it, he found Burleigh's yellowing body covered in a blanket, the warrant states. He immediately called police.

Burleigh's body was found a day after a Philadelphia police detective and FBI agent visited the property to question Hupperterz.

Investigators noted in the report that he had scratches and cuts on his neck and lacerations to his right hand. A deep cut to his middle finger required several stitches.

The court documents say Hupperterz claimed he got some cuts when he broke a bowl while he was drunk. He said the scratches were from rough sex earlier in the week.

Hupperterz is charged with murder and related offenses in Burleigh's killing. He is being held in a Philadelphia jail without bail and has yet to retain legal counsel. He has not yet entered a plea in the case.

Investigators are still working on determining a motive in the killing.

NBC10's Randy Gyllenhall is live at Philadelphia International Airport Where flights out of Miami, West Palm Beach and Orlando arrived full of passengers fleeing ahead of the storm. Hurricane Irma is also forcing many flight cancellations. Randy caught up with a family originally from Hatboro who now live in Melbourne, Florida. With their home not far from the beach they decided it was time to go.

A $25,000 reward is being offered by the FBI, Maple Shade Police Department and the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office for information leading to an arrest in the murders of a mother and her son inside their apartment in Maple Shade, New Jersey earlier this year. 

Officials made the announcement during a press conference Wednesday around 4 p.m.

On March 23 around 9 p.m., Sasikala Narra, 38, and her 6-year-old son Anish, were found dead at the Fox Meadow apartment complex on the 100 block of Fox Meadow Drive. Police say a man identified as Narra's husband and Anish's father found them in a pool of blood on a bed and dialed 911. The county medical examiner determined that they both died from multiple stab wounds and their deaths were ruled as homicides.

Investigators say nothing was stolen from the apartment and there was no forced entry. No arrests have been made and a motive has not been determined. Officials announced Wednesday that they have several leads they are pursuing however. They also say that contrary to some media reports after the murders, there is no indication that the crime is connected to the fact that the victims are of Indian descent.

Police say Narra's husband has remained cooperative throughout the investigation and has been interviewed. He is currently staying with a friend and no longer lives at the Maple Shade apartment.

More than 30 investigators canvassed the Fox Meadow apartment complex following Wednesday's presser and handed out flyers in English, Spanish, Hindi and Telegu asking the public to help with the ongoing investigation.

If you have any information on the murders, please call 609-265-7113 or send an email to reward@co.burlington.nj.us.

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Two cousins charged with allegedly killing four young men on a farm in Bucks County in early July will be in court Thursday for their preliminary hearing, which was previously postponed.

Cosmo DiNardo and Sean Kratz, both 20, each face multiple counts of criminal homicide and conspiracy to commit homicide, according to court records. DiNardo is charged with all four of the slayings while Kratz is charged on three.

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DiNardo allegedly admitted to authorities that he was involved in killing all four men between July 5 and July 7. They were identified as Dean Finocchiaro, 19, of Middletown Township; Mark Sturgis, 22, of Pennsburg, Montgomery County; Tom Meo, 21, of Plumstead Township; and Jimi Taro Patrick, 19, of Newtown Township.

An attorney for Kratz, of Northeast Philadelphia, confirmed that his client and DiNardo will have their preliminary hearing before Judge Maggie Snow at the Bucks County Courthouse in Doylestown Thursday at 1:30 p.m.

Attorney Neils Eriksen, of Langhorne, declined to comment specifically on the proceedings. He said it was unclear how Snow would handle the two cases, but said he expected DiNardo to go first, followed by Kratz.

Both men are being held without bail.

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DiNardo's lawyer Michael Parlow previously said his client gave a "full confession" to police days after an investigation led to DiNardo's arrest after the grim discovery of four bodies at a farm in Solebury.

Investigators believe the victims were killed at the 70-acre property owned by the DiNardo family. It is a few miles outside of the borough of New Hope on the Delaware River.

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Patrick was shot to death by DiNardo on July 5 as the two were alone on the farm, according to the affidavit. DiNardo told authorities that he and Patrick had arranged to meet on the farm for a marijuana drug deal, but once Patrick had arrived, DiNardo fatally shot him instead. He said he used a backhoe to dig the hole in which he buried Patrick's body.

The other three victims were killed July 7 in two separate incidents at the farm, both of which were under the guise of a drug deal, according to the criminal affidavit.

Kratz and DiNardo had planned to rob Finocchiaro after luring him to the farm, but instead Kratz shot him in the head, the affidavit said. Later in the day, Kratz and DiNardo met up with Sturgis and Meo and shot them to death in a similarly sudden manner, the charging document said.

After killing Finocchiaro, Sturgis and Meo, DiNardo and Kratz put their bodies into a large container — what DiNardo called a "pig roaster" — and burned them using gasoline, according to the affidavit.

All four men's remains, however, were found by law enforcement in a common grave on the property.

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A man who has worked on various campaigns for liberal causes in Pennsylvania and elsewhere turned a town hall forum hosted by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey last week on its head when he asked a startling question about Toomey's daughter.

“We’ve been here for a while. You probably haven’t seen the news," Simon Radecki said Thursday night, addressing the Republican senator." Can you confirm whether or not your daughter Bridget has been kidnapped?”

Bethlehem police quickly rushed Radecki and ushered him out of the studios of PBS 39, Bethlehem's public television station. Initial reports indicated police would charge Radecki with disorderly conduct and disturbing a public meeting. 

But as of Wednesday evening, that was not the case. A clerk in the local magisterial judge's office said no charges had been filed. Bethlehem police officials did not return messages left for comment.

In his first interview since the forum, Toomey told conservative radio host Dom Giordano of Talk Radio 1210AM in Philadelphia on Wednesday morning that it was "outrageous" and "appalling" that Radecki would talk about Toomey's daughter in that context.

"Look, you know for a dad, your number one priority, by far, is the safety and security of your children and your family, right," Toomey said in a short on-air interview. "So for someone to make a statement like that, I don't know how anyone would not perceive it as a threat, however veiled. And that's just outrageous."

He added that he is fair game, but his family should not be brought into the realm of dirty politics.

"Look, say whatever you like about me — and people do, people feel free to do that, believe me," Toomey said. "But family should be off limits. Children should be so off limits."

Radecki, in a Facebook post, wrote shortly after the town hall tussle with police that children were actually central to his question, a question he says he never got to fully ask of the senator.

"My question in full, should I have been allowed to ask it in full:

"Thank you, Senator Toomey, for coming here tonight to hear our questions. I’m assuming you’ve been busy thinking about how to answer our questions, so you haven’t seen the news. Do you know whether you daughter, Bridget, has been abducted?

Whatever you’re feeling right now, that’s what it feels like to have a daughter deported. Thousands of fathers here in the Valley that live with that fear every day. Their daughters have names, too. So here’s my question. Do you unequivocally denounce any attempt by the administration to reverse DACA, which would hang the threat of deportation over hundreds of thousands of children the same age as Bridget?"

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Whether or not Radecki's question was in poor taste, a lawyer with the ACLU of Pennsylvania took exception to the actions of the local police.

"Bethlehem police jump in to be the 'thought police,'" ACLU-PA deputy legal director Mary Catherine Roper said. "Asking someone a question like that might be unnerving, and he wanted it to be unnerving. But there was no threat and certainly no disruption. Without something other than what I’ve seen reported, whether or not he’s even been charged, his rights have already been violated. He got pulled out of a public forum."

Radecki could not be reached for comment.

A spokesman for PBS 39 said it has muted the audio of the moment when Radecki asks Toomey about his daughter because Radecki mentions her by name.

"While Sen. Toomey is a public figure, his daughter, who was named, is not," PBS39 Vice President DaWayne Cleckley said. "That was an editorial decision."

As for Radecki's removal, Cleckley said that was the decision of police officers at that moment.

The video posted on PBS39's website doesn't show Radecki's interaction with officers toward the end of the 54-minute broadcast. Moments later, another audience member is standing with a microphone-holding reporter.

After the reporter apologizes for the disturbance, Toomey took another question.

Huong Le recalled the final moments she had with her youngest son at his bedside in the hospital.

“I touched his hand and his hand opened for me,” she said. “I hold him. I hold him a lot.”

Huong’s son, 29-year-old Temple University graduate John Le, was shot and killed outside an apartment building in Haverford Township back on July 29. The day of her son’s murder, Huong was praying inside a nearby Catholic church. She told NBC10 she remembers seeing emergency crews rush past her as she drove home. She later learned they were responding to her own son’s shooting.

Derrick Rollins, 24, of Philadelphia, was arrested in Georgia in August and charged in Le’s murder after a manhunt that involved police departments in two counties as well as the US Marshals. Police say Rollins randomly targeted Le, shooting him twice and taking his cellphone, which investigators say he later used. Police also say Rollins fired 17 shots at a group in Philadelphia’s Overbrook Park section, injuring two men, 20 minutes before he killed Le.

On Wednesday Rollins was arraigned on first-degree murder charges. He is also charged with aggravated assault, robbery and firearms offenses. He was quiet as officials led him from Haverford Township Police headquarters to his arraignment.

“I pray for him,” Huong Le said of her son’s alleged killer. “And I forgive him. I just want to miss John. I just want to, my son is still alive. That’s why, because I miss him every day.”

Le was the youngest of Huong’s three sons. A family member described him as “his mom’s baby.”

Huong told NBC10 she’s relieved Rollins was charged in her son’s death though she holds no anger toward him.

“I’m not angry at anybody,” she said. “I just miss my son. That’s all.”

Rollins is currently being held without bail.

A woman cried for help after two men broke into her Upper Darby home and tied her up Wednesday afternoon, according to her neighbor.

The suspects broke into the woman’s home on the 6800 block of Clover Lane and tied her up before fleeing through the backdoor of the house. Investigators have not yet revealed whether anything was stolen.

JD Slanger, the woman’s neighbor, told NBC10 he heard the woman screaming for help.

“I could hear it from here and she was across the street. ‘Please help! Help! Somebody please, please help,’” Slanger said. “You know, she was screaming.”

The woman, who is in her 30s according to neighbors, was taken to the hospital. Officials have not yet revealed her condition. Slanger said she appeared to be walking under her own power before going inside the ambulance.

No arrests have been made and police have not yet released a description of any suspects. They continue to investigate.

Firefighters battled a warehouse fire in the Kensington section of Philadelphia early Wednesday evening. 

The fire started at a building on E. Westmoreland and C streets at 5:56 p.m. Firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control about 40 minutes later.

No one was injured in the fire. Officials are investigating the cause.

A viewer wanted to make her daughter's graduation party memorable so she rented a photo booth through Groupon. But when things didn't turn out as planned she called Harry Hairston and NBC10 Responds.

Gas prices are rising in Pennsylvania. NBC10's Steven Fisher talks with drivers about the price hike.

Police arrested a teen boy accused of running a woman over with his dirt bike, dragging her several feet and then fleeing the scene on foot in Pleasantville, New Jersey last month.

The 17-year-old Pleasantville boy was arrested and charged with assault by auto and leaving the scene of a motor vehicle crash with serious bodily injury. He will also be issued several motor vehicle violations.

Investigators say the teen was recklessly riding a dirt bike on Main Street near West Jersey Avenue in Pleasantville back on August 5 around 6:30 p.m. The teen allegedly drove up a sidewalk when he struck a 27-year-old Galloway Township woman who had just left a nearby restaurant.

The teen boy dragged the woman at least 75 feet with the dirt bike and then fled the scene on foot, leaving the woman and his vehicle behind, according to police. The hit-and-run crash was captured on surveillance video.

“I just couldn’t believe,” said Monique Burton, who witnessed the crash. “A human being. It wasn’t no animal. It was a person.”

The woman was taken to the hospital where she was treated for serious head injuries and internal injuries.

Police say they received multiple tips which helped lead them to the teen. The suspect was processed and released pending a court appearance.

The hit-and-run occurred less than two months after NBC10 first reported about Pleasantville’s ongoing issues with off-road dirt bikers casing problems on the streets, where it's illegal to ride. Police say the teen biker, who had a mask covering part of his face, rode onto the sidewalk to avoid traffic that was stopped at a light.

“This is akin to us taking out a firearm and shooting somebody that happens to be standing on the sidewalk that has nothing to do with whatever business you’re conducting,” said Pleasantville Police Captain Matthew Hartman.

Pleasantville officials say they’ve been in touch with the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office and state agencies to help with a more aggressive crackdown on the problem that will include locating and confiscating the bikes if necessary and taking action against the riders.

“It’s something we’ve been working on,” Captain Hartman said. “Unfortunately something like this happens and it basically jumpstarts everything and moves it forward.”