Hurricane Watch for Carolina Coast

The high pressure that brought record heat to southern Quebec today, 32C in Montreal, is also slowly driving Hurricane Earl northwest towards the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the eastern Seaboard. It is unlikely the storm will make a direct landfall on the Outer Banks, but that does not matter. This narrow thin ribbon of land that I like to call my home away from home does not need a direct hit for major damage and ocean over wash to occur. Late this afternoon the National Hurricane Center issued a Hurricane Watch from Surf City north to Duck including Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds. Hurricane conditions may arrive as early as late Wednesday or Thursday. Earl remains a very dangerous hurricane tonight with 135mph winds at a Category 4 status and is 1000 miles south southeast of Cape Hatteras . The storm is expected to maintain this strength for the next 24 hours as he squeezes between the high mentioned and a cold front over the Great Lakes. How close the storm comes to the coast will determine the extent of the warnings. All interests along the coast north into Nova Scotia need to monitor this storm closely. It is very likely that by Saturday, we will have a Category 1 storm making landfall in eastern Canada.