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(Aug. 31) -- A hurricane watch may be issued for parts of the mid-Atlantic later today, as the powerful Hurricane Earl hurtles toward the U.S. coastline, gaining strength in the open ocean after plowing through islands in the Caribbean.
The Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 135 mph, could make landfall on the East Coast by Thursday. Forecasters do not expect a direct hit but warned that the fast-moving storm could graze states from North Carolina to Maine, creating dangerous wind and flooding and making for a very soggy Labor Day weekend.
By late morning today, the hurricane was swirling just over 1,000 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was expected to take a turn toward land later in the day, the National Weather Service said.
"Anybody living on the East Coast of the United States should really be paying attention to this storm," Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, told The Wall Street Journal.
A NASA satellite snapped an image of Earl moving northward Sunday behind Hurricane Danielle, before striking Puerto Rico and islands in the Caribbean. Earl caused damage to power lines there but no fatalities or serious injuries, according to The Associated Press.
Danielle weakened into a tropical storm Monday but created dangerous rip currents along East Coast beaches over the weekend. One surfer in Florida drowned, and a swimmer in Maryland is still missing today after being swept away Saturday in the rough surf.
For now, Earl is moving west-northwest at 14 mph, and looks set to largely spare the U.S. and instead peel off eastward into the Atlantic. However, forecasters cautioned that it was too soon to tell for sure and said the trajectory of the storm could change quickly.
"Any small shift in the track could dramatically alter whether it makes landfall or whether it remains over the open ocean," Wallace Hogsett, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center, told the AP.
Weather Resources:
- Get Your Forecast
- National Doppler Radar
Forecasters said Earl is most likely to make landfall along the Outer Banks of North Carolina and then weaken before possibly hitting New York's Long Island or Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, a third storm, Tropical Storm Fiona, formed Monday in the Atlantic with winds of 40 mph but is so far not expected to pose a direct threat to the U.S. coastline.
FEMA said it was ready to help states evacuate people in case of flooding from Hurricane Earl.
"We're talking to the states, if they're going to even have to start talking about evacuating, we have people designated to help them," FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told The Washington Post. "Teams from the West Coast are headed to New England to assist if necessary."
(Aug. 31) -- A hurricane watch may be issued for parts of the mid-Atlantic later today, as the powerful Hurricane Earl hurtles toward the U.S. coastline, gaining strength in the open ocean after plowing through islands in the Caribbean.
The Category 4 storm, with winds of up to 135 mph, could make landfall on the East Coast by Thursday. Forecasters do not expect a direct hit but warned that the fast-moving storm could graze states from North Carolina to Maine, creating dangerous wind and flooding and making for a very soggy Labor Day weekend.
By late morning today, the hurricane was swirling just over 1,000 miles off the coast of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was expected to take a turn toward land later in the day, the National Weather Service said.
"Anybody living on the East Coast of the United States should really be paying attention to this storm," Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman for the National Hurricane Center, told The Wall Street Journal.
A NASA satellite snapped an image of Earl moving northward Sunday behind Hurricane Danielle, before striking Puerto Rico and islands in the Caribbean. Earl caused damage to power lines there but no fatalities or serious injuries, according to The Associated Press.
Danielle weakened into a tropical storm Monday but created dangerous rip currents along East Coast beaches over the weekend. One surfer in Florida drowned, and a swimmer in Maryland is still missing today after being swept away Saturday in the rough surf.
For now, Earl is moving west-northwest at 14 mph, and looks set to largely spare the U.S. and instead peel off eastward into the Atlantic. However, forecasters cautioned that it was too soon to tell for sure and said the trajectory of the storm could change quickly.
"Any small shift in the track could dramatically alter whether it makes landfall or whether it remains over the open ocean," Wallace Hogsett, a meteorologist at the U.S. National Hurricane Center, told the AP.
Weather Resources:
- Get Your Forecast
- National Doppler Radar
Forecasters said Earl is most likely to make landfall along the Outer Banks of North Carolina and then weaken before possibly hitting New York's Long Island or Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
Meanwhile, a third storm, Tropical Storm Fiona, formed Monday in the Atlantic with winds of 40 mph but is so far not expected to pose a direct threat to the U.S. coastline.
FEMA said it was ready to help states evacuate people in case of flooding from Hurricane Earl.
"We're talking to the states, if they're going to even have to start talking about evacuating, we have people designated to help them," FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told The Washington Post. "Teams from the West Coast are headed to New England to assist if necessary."
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