Hurricane EARL richting Oostkust V.S.

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Earl keeps creeping more to the West?
SouthCoast and Cape Cod have been placed under a hurricane warning as Earl, now approaching the North Carolina coast, has turned but not quite as quickly or as sharply as forecasters had hoped.

A hurricane warning means means that hurricane conditions — with winds greater than 74 mph — are expected within 36 hours.

“It looks like it's encroaching a little closer to our region,” said Kim Buttrick, meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Taunton. “It's started to creep a little more to the west, but we still show the projected track to be southeast of Nantucket.”

Earl is currently a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 mph. Gradual weakening is expected in the next several days and it is expected to be a Category 2 storm with sustained winds of about 100 mph when it passes closest to the Cape.

In its 11 a.m. advisory, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said Earl was 300 miles south of the North Carolina coast and 765 miles south southwest of Nantucket. It was expected to turn before striking Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

“A turn toward the north-northeast with an increase in forward speed is expected on Friday,” the advisory said. “On the forecast track, the center of Earl will pass near the North Carolina Outer Banks tonight and approach southeastern New England Friday night.

Warnings and watches had been issued for the entire coast from North Carolina to the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border.

Earl was expected to veer as it approached Cape Hatteras, steered away by an advancing cold front, forecasters said.

“The issue is the timing,” said Bill Read, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami. If the cold front stalls, Earl could make landfall in North Carolina, which Read called “the worst-case scenario.”

And, if that happens, all bets are off for SouthCoast. “That would create too many uncertainties when you come up to New England.”

Even if the storm stays offshore, it could have a serious impact on SouthCoast.

First of all, extremely high surf and strong rip currents are anticipated. Beyond that, “as the storm moves north, even as large as it is, it's likely to gain in area,” Read said. “There's a large swath of tropical storm force winds that would cover the eastern third of Massachusetts.”

The good news is that most projections show Earl tracking east of here, meaning the area would be hit by the weaker, left quadrant of the storm.

“With most storms moving rapidly to the north, the left (or west) side of it produces less wind, and you're not going to have as much of a surge threat,” Read said.

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Earl set to bash Nantucket and CapeCod
Large and dangerous Hurricane Earl will bash Nantucket and Cape Cod with 100-mph winds Friday night, while strong winds, flooding and damage can be felt as far west as Boston.

Earl will make its closest brush to the U.S. coastline Friday night by passing within 30 miles of Nantucket. That will put the destructive, expanding eye wall and hurricane-force winds easily over the island, as well as Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, much of southeastern Massachusetts and the eastern part of Rhode Island.

People in these areas will be in harm's way and run the risk of being casualties, while property may be damaged or lost.

These areas can expect storm surge and coastal flooding, beach erosion and over-wash on low-lying roads.

As the storm unravels and moves northeastward, it will produce an expanding shield of rain and gusty winds.

Downed trees and power outages are expected as far west and north as Boston, Providence, R.I., Portsmouth, N.H., and Portland, Maine, as well as eastern Long Island and Down East Maine. These areas can expect at least tropical storm wind conditions.

Rainfall of 2 to 4 inches is forecast over the eastern third of New England, which is enough to cause at least minor problems from flooding in poor drainage and urban areas.

While Earl will be weakening over the colder waters northeast of North Carolina, it will remain a dangerous storm moving northeastward through New England and Atlantic Canada.

Earl may not be the last hurricane to threaten the East Coast of the U.S. Many other systems are already waiting on deck in the tropical Atlantic Ocean or are cruising westward in the birthing areas of the northwestern Indian Ocean and Africa.

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Weakened Earl slams US Eastcoast

Hurricane Earl was today battering the American east coast as thousands of families fled inland for shelter.

Despite being downgraded to a category two, winds had still reached 105mph as the storm hit the dangerously exposed Outer Banks area of North Carolina.

New York is bracing itself for impact tomorrow as the hurricane tears north along the eastern seaboard.

The impact of the Category 2 storm appeared to be less than originally expected as Earl churned north parallel to the U.S. Atlantic coast hours after it was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane.

Gusts dropped from 140mph early Thursday to around 105mph later that day, but forecasters warned Earl remained powerful enough to cause serious damage.

Local emergency officials said no casualties or major structural damage had been reported so far. At least one coastal road was cut by waves washing over it.

Certainly conditions are not as severe as they could have been,' said Sandy Sanderson, the director of emergency services in Dare County.

At 2am local time, Earl was packing top sustained winds of 105mph and its centre was passing east of the Outer Banks islands that jut into the Atlantic, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

A further weakening was forecast during the next 24 to 36 hours but Earl is expected to remain fierce as it turns toward the north-east.