Hurricane Watch for Parts of East Coast

Hurricane Earl still has maximum sustained winds of 135 mph, making it a category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. It's now located about 900 miles to the south/southeast of Cape Hatteras, NC and is moving toward the northwest at 15 mph. A hurricane watch is in effect in North Carolina from Surf City to the Virginia border, and a tropical storm warning is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands. Earl will curve more to the north over the next couple of days, missing the U.S. mainland by a slim margin. However, winds of 70 mph or higher are still possible along the outer banks of North Carolina on Thursday and Thursday night, along with high surf and rip currents along much of the east coast. Earl probably won't gain much strength over the next couple of days, and will eventually weaken as it moves into the North Atlantic Ocean on Friday.  --TS