With sustained winds now up to 145 miles per hour, Hurricane Earl is set to hit the Eastern seaboard today. The governors of North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland have all declared states of emergency. Areas in Massachusetts and Maine are under warning. There’s also a tropical-storm warning for the coast of Long Island, with the latest alerts including Fire Island Inlet and Port Jefferson Harbor. Models from the National Hurricane Center have Earl passing close to North Carolina’s Outer Banks tonight and southeastern New England Friday night. Hurricane-force winds are extending 90 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extend 230 miles. A slight turn in the predicted path could bring the wind and rain closer to shore. Currently, Earl is located about 400 miles south of Cape Hatteras and headed north-northwest. Brittany Grippaldi, who was vacationing with her family in Cape Hatteras, told the Daily News she didn’t want to cut the trip short. “It’s sad because reality hasn’t really set in because it is so beautiful out. It’s like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to leave this,’ but it’s like the calm before the storm,” she said. Yes, Brittany, it’s just like that.
Hurricane Earl, Category 4 storm, heads east [NYDN]
Earl strengthens, heads toward East Coast [CNN]
Hurricane Earl 2010 [HuffPo]
Hurricane Earl upgraded; winds at 140 mph [WP]
