Watches And Warnings Stretched Northward As Earl Regains Strength
Powerful Hurricane Now Back At Category Four Strength With Winds Of 135 MPH As Advisories Extend Northward Into New Jersey
Within the past hour or so, the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida has upgraded Hurricane Earl back to a Category Four storm on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with winds again reaching 135 miles per hour, gusts in excess of 160 miles per hour, and a minimum central pressure of 941 millibars, or 27.79 inches of Hg (Mercury). The monster storm that has hurricane force winds extending some 90 miles from the center, and tropical storm force winds reaching some 200 miles, is still moving to the Northwest at 17 miles per hour, and is located 235 miles east of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas, or approximately 630 miles South-Southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
There has been some significant changes to the watches and warnings as they have been extended further northward in response to the major threat posed by this storm. Below are the latest set of hurricane and tropical storm advisories for the East Coast of the United States.
Hurricane Warning Is In Effect For:
- The East Coast of the United States from Bogue Inlet, North Carolina to the North Carolina/Virginia border including the Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds.
Hurricane Watch Is In Effect For:
- The East Coast of the United States from north of the North Carolina/Virginia border to Cape Henlopen, Delaware.
- And…from Woods Hole to Sagamore Beach, Massachusetts including the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket.
Tropical Storm Warning In Effect For:
- The East Coast of the United States from Cape Fear to west of Bogue Inlet, North Carolina
- And…from north of the North Carolina/Virginia border to Sandy Hook, New Jersey including Delaware Bay south of Slaughter Beach and the Chesapeake Bay south of New Point Comfort.
Tropical Storm Watch In Effect For:
All other interests along the East Coast of the United States from North Carolina to Maine as well as the Canadian Maritimes should be closely monitoring the progress of this dangerous storm.
Looking at the latest infared and visible satellite imagery courtesy of the Weather Channel, Earl has an eye that is obscured by cloud cover, but has become more noticeable. There is still a good deal of orange and red associated with the circulation, which is indicated of the higher cloud tops in the hurricanes core. These higher cloud tops contain strong thunderstorms with the system’s highest winds. The projected path of Earl is expected to be more like an S-curve with the cone of uncertainty now including the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts along with the outer banks of North Carolina.
As of right now, Hurricane Earl is likely to brush the Outer Banks of North Carolina between Thursday night and Friday morning, and parallel the Mid-Atlantic coast including the Jersey Shore by Friday afternoon into Friday evening. Then, it could clip the far east end of Long island along with Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket before going into the Gulf of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes on Saturday. Here is how the forecast models are looking at the future storm track of Earl over the next several days:
The latest forecast discussion indicates that Earl is reaching the western edge of the subtropical high in the Western Atlantic, and should begin a more northerly turn over the next 24 hours. In addition, the storm will begin to feel the effects of an approaching cold front over the next 36 hours, and move more northeastward with forward speed. The intensity forecast indicates that Earl should remain at about the same strength over the next 24 hours before slightly weakening again to a Category Three Hurricane prior to its closest approach to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Then, the system should encounter relatively cooler waters and gradually weakening further as it passes the Jersey Coast, Long Island, and brushes the Cape Cod region of Massachusetts. Earl should be extratropical within four days.