Hurricane Earl Hits East Coast
The Wall Street Journal reports:
NAGS HEAD, N.C.—Vacationers hustled out of coastal North Carolina under darkening skies as Hurricane Earl was on track to pass the Outer Banks by Thursday night, while forecasters predicted the gradually weakening storm would travel next to southern New England.
The National Hurricane Center said Earl would pass the Outer Banks as a "large and powerful hurricane," but downgraded the storm twice, from a Category 4 to a Category 2 and said it should continue to weaken Friday as it moves up the U.S. East Coast toward New England and north to Nova Scotia, Canada.
The hurricane center issued a hurricane warning for the southeastern coast of Massachusetts, around Cape Cod, including the island summer colonies of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. The storm is expected to arrive in that area Friday night.
Hurricane warnings mean hurricane conditions—sustained winds of 74 miles per hour or higher—are expected. The warnings are issued 36 hours in advance of anticipated tropical-storm force winds, which are between 39 mph and 73 mph.
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