Thursday, September 2, 2010

Earl Pounding the Outer Banks


The above radar image was taken from Morehead City, North Carolina just a few moments ago.  You can see the center of Hurricane Earl, which is located about 185 miles South of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.  

Strong, gusty winds and heavy surf continue to increase along the outer banks of North Carolina, and conditions will continue to deteriorate throughout the evening and overnight.  Thus far, wind gusts of 35-45 mph have been most common along the outer banks.  Tropical storm and hurricane force winds will develop later this evening and into tonight.


Earl is currently moving toward the North/Northeast at 18 mph.  On this track, the exact center of Earl, and the strongest wind core, would stay immediately East of  North Carolina's outer banks tonight.  Since moving into slightly cooler waters today, the maximum sustained winds have decreased to 115 mph.  Earl will continue to gradually weaken over the next 24-36 hours as he moves further Northward into even cooler waters.

Deteriorating conditions will spread Northward into New England on Friday and Friday night.  On the present forecast track, Earl would come very close to the Eastern shoreline of Massachusetts Friday night and into the wee hours of Saturday morning.  Earl will likely still be a minimal hurricane at that point, with high winds and heavy surf pounding the coastline.




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