Hurricane Earl Projected To Take Run Along the East Coast

The key to whether Hurricane Earl makes landfall somewhere along the East Coast is a low pressure front that is moving from the Ohio River Valley. If it slows, it gives the hurricane the opportunity to inch closer to the coast and potentially bring damaging winds and rain to parts of the East Coast.

Thus far, Puerto Rico got a glancing blow, but St. Marteen and Antigua saw downed trees some damage to buildings and facilities. The islands have no phone service as

For the latest updates, Reuters has a hurricane tracker. According to the tracker, the storm is expected to retain category 2 strength even as it reaches the latitude off New York, which means that the storm has the potential to do some serious damage if the track takes it closer to the coast.

The National Hurricane Center is now giving 2-hour updates because of its expected track close to the coast.

UPDATE:

The storm models are pretty much in agreement that the storm will skirt the East Coast, but are not indicating a track taking it over New York City. It may well stay offshore, but vigilance is required, particularly since the storm could change track to the East. The storm track at this points to staying offshore so it doesn't have the hallmarks of the devastating Long Island Express storm of 1938 or even Hurricane Gloria.