Hurricane Earl was north of Puerto Rico late Monday night and forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami now predict the dangerous Category Four hurricane will come much closer to the mainland United States than previously thought.
At 10 p.m. CDT, the eye of the storm was 170 miles north of San Juan. The hurricane was moving to the west-northwest at 14 mph. If it maintained its present course, Earl would run into the Turks and Caicos, and those islands are under a tropical storm warning. However, forecasters expect Earl to turn more toward the northwest Tuesday and pass east of the islands tomorrow night and Wednesday.
The NHC has altered its projected path for Earl a bit to the west, bringing Earl close to the Outer Banks of North Carolina by late Thursday night.
“Interests from the Carolinas northward to New England should monitor the progress of Earl,” the NHC advised. “There is still considerable uncertainty as to how close the hurricane will come to the U.S. East Coast.”
Earl continued to have maximum sustained winds of 135 mph. Hurricane-force winds extended out 70 miles from the eye of the storm and winds with tropical storm force reached as far as 200 miles.
Earl brushed along the northern Leeward Islands Monday, creating chaos for cruise ship itineraries. A number of vessels canceled scheduled ports of call in the U.S. Virgin Islands early this week, including Carnival Victory and Norwegian Epic. Carnival Pride canceled a stop in the Turks and Caicos. The cruise lines were making alternate arrangements for ports of call for these ships.
Earl also has disrupted airline service to Caribbean islands. LIAT canceled all flights north of Antigua Monday with the exception of a flight to St. Nevis.
Related: Category Four Hurricane Earl moving away from Virgin Islands
Earl now a major hurricane impacting Virgin Islands
Hurricane warning issued for US Virgin Islands
Hurricane Earl reaches Category Two status as it nears Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda brace for arrival of Hurricane Earl
Comments
Thanks for the coverage. I didn't know Earl was a threat to the US until I got your alert.
I tried to comment yesterday and was rejected because it said my name belonged to someone else. I'll see if it goes with "anonymous"
believe me, anonymous, that's the least of this sites problems... the very least...
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