National Hurricane Center Hurricane Earl tracking: Category 4 hurricane update

National Hurricane Center reports Hurricane Earl will slam the East Coast today. North Carolina, Long Island, Massachusetts and Rhode Island are in Earl's projected path. The Category 4 hurricane is moving quickly towards the Eastern Seaboard Thursday.

Winds as high as 145 mph are bearing down on North Carolina per hour. School closures and coastal evacuations are in effect. A hurricane warning is out for part of the Massachusetts coast including Nantucket. A tropical storm warning was issued Thursday along the Connecticut and Rhode Island coasts into Massachusetts. See the latest video with news about Hurricane Earl below.

The National Weather Service issued a hurricane warning for the coast from Westport at the Rhode Island border around Cape Cod to Hull, across Boston Harbor from Boston. The warning also covers Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. A hurricane warning means that hurricane conditions -- with winds 74 miles per hour or more -- are expected.

Tracking Hurricane Earl:

Social media is an excellent way to keep updated on the latest information on Hurricane Earl. Twitter, Facebook, Mobile Apps and Text Alerts all provide updated information for those concerned about the track of the storm. See a list of the top Hurricane Earl social media resources here.

A detailed hurricane map is available on the website of The National Weather Service Hurricane Center. Scroll down for the most recent screenshots of tracking maps and photos related to Hurricane Earl.

The Associated Press reports: Earl's first encounter with the U.S. mainland should come around midnight Thursday, as the storm is forecast to pass just off Cape Hatteras, bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph and several feet of storm surge both from the Atlantic and the sounds to the west of the islands.

Rhode Island television station WPRI 12 gives their latest forecast with regard to Hurricane Earl: Rain and wind likely... especially in the afternoon and evening ... Earl is going to be moving quickly, so we are expecting only 6-8 hours of stormy conditions during Friday and Friday night, depending on the storm track and timing. Based on the current National Hurricane Center track, Earl could bring 2-5" of rain to parts of our area and wind gusts 40-60mph....with gusts to hurricane force (74+ mph) for Westport, MA to the Cape and Islands.

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