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Hurricane warning issued as Earl approaches East Coast
By: cnn.comPosted On: 09/01/2010 2:42 P
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Hurricane warnings and watches were issued for portions of the North Carolina and Virginia coastlines Wednesday as forecasters warned Category 3 Hurricane Earl would be approaching the East Coast by late Thursday.
Hurricane warnings and watches were issued for portions of the North Carolina and Virginia coastlines Wednesday as forecasters warned Category 3 Hurricane Earl would be approaching the East Coast by late Thursday.
Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for Ocracoke Island, on North Carolina's Outer Banks, and Cape Lookout National Seashore, as well as for visitors to Hatteras Island.
Earl was downgraded early Wednesday from a Category 4 to a Category 3 storm, with maximum sustained winds near 125 mph (200 kph).
However, it was still a major hurricane, and National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read told reporters that a 10-mph reduction in winds was a "fluctuation" rather than a true weakening of intensity. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers compared it to Hurricane Katrina, which wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast when it slammed ashore as a strong Category 3 hurricane in 2005.
Forecasters issued a hurricane warning for the area from Bogue Inlet, North Carolina, northeast to the North Carolina-Virginia border, including Pamlico and Albemarle sounds. A tropical storm warning was issued for an area between Cape Fear, North Carolina, and Bogue Inlet, and a hurricane watch stretched from the North Carolina-Virginia line up to Cape Henlopen, Delaware.
For the North Carolina and Virginia coast, as well as for Long Island and New England, much depends on when Earl makes an expected turn to the east. Forecasters are fairly sure it will make that turn, Read said. It is forecast to happen just as Earl nears the coast, but a delay of as little as six hours could make the difference between direct landfall and a glancing blow -- as well as the effects felt in the northern states.
Earl is expected to make its closest pass to the Outer Banks at about sunrise Friday, said CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen. "The official track keeps the storm offshore by about 50 miles, but any deviation could bring the center onto the Outer Banks," he said.
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