As of late yesterday, forecasters still weren't sure how hard Hurricane Earl will hit the North Shore, even as it barreled down on the Carolinas last night.
"It's really difficult to tell," Salem weatherman Arthur Francis said. "There are a couple of models that bring it pretty close to Cape Cod."
If that happens, Francis expects winds from 25 to 35 mph in this area with stronger gusts and about 2 inches of rain.
"That's a pretty decent coastal storm," Salem Harbormaster Peter Gifford said. "It's enough to break loose some boats."
A small cruise ship canceled plans to stop in Salem yesterday. Meanwhile, boat owners lined up at Winter Island to haul vessels to dry ground.
"I am recommending that people get their boats out of the water if they can," Gifford said.
Hurricane Earl — which at one point was classified a Category 4 storm, with winds in excess of 140 mph — closed in with 110 mph winds last night on North Carolina's dangerously exposed Outer Banks, the first and potentially most destructive stop on the storm's projected journey up the Eastern Seaboard.
In what could be a preview for the North Shore, the hurricane's leading edge brought on-and-off light rain in the afternoon to the long ribbon of barrier islands, which were expected to get the brunt of the storm around midnight. Heavy surf was already washing over the only highway on Ocracoke Island before sundown, but crews were able to keep the road open.
Earl's arrival was expected to mark the start of at least 24 hours of stormy, windy weather along the East Coast. During its march up the Atlantic, it could snarl travelers' Labor Day weekend plans and strike a second forceful blow to the vacation homes and cottages on Long Island, Nantucket Island and Cape Cod.
It was unclear exactly how close Earl's center and its strongest winds would get to land. But Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate said people shouldn't wait for the next forecast to act.
"This is a day of action. Conditions are going to deteriorate rapidly," he said.
Shelters were open in inland North Carolina, and officials on Nantucket planned to set up a shelter at a high school today.
Gov. Deval Patrick declared a state of emergency yesterday afternoon. Similar declarations have also made in North Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. However, as of that time, the only evacuations ordered were on the Outer Banks, which stick out into the Atlantic Ocean like the side-view mirror on a car, vulnerable to a sideswiping. About 35,000 tourists and residents were urged to leave.
Still, Earl weakened into a Category 2 storm last night, and a slow winding down was expected to continue as the storm moved into cooler waters. However, forecasters warned the size of the storm's wind field was increasing, similar to what happened when Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast five years ago.
"It will be bigger. The storm won't be as strong, but they spread out as they go north and the rain will be spreading from New England," National Hurricane Center Director Bill Read said.
The eye of the storm was expected to pass about 50 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, N.C. But even at that distance, Earl could have a punishing effect, since hurricane-force winds of 74 mph or more extended 70 miles from its center and tropical storm-force winds of at least 35 mph reached more than 200 miles out.
Hundreds of the Outer Banks' more hardy residents gassed up their generators and planned to hunker down at home behind their boarded-up windows, even though officials warned them that it could be three days before they could expect any help and that storm surge could again slice through the islands.
Officials warned once the winds began to pick up, police, firefighters and paramedics probably weren't going to answer emergency calls.
Forecasters said that after Earl passes the Outer Banks, a kink in the jetstream over the eastern U.S. should push the storm away from the coast, guiding it like a marble in a groove.
Earl was expected to move north-northeast for much of today, staying away from New Jersey and the other mid-Atlantic states, but also passing very close to Long Island, Cape Cod and Nantucket, which could get gusts up to 100 mph. The storm is expected to finally move ashore in Canada sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Much of New England should expect strong, gusty winds much like a nor'easter, along with fallen trees and downed power lines, forecasters said.
"This is the strongest hurricane to threaten the Northeast and New England since Hurricane Bob in 1991," said Dennis Feltgen, a meteorologist with the National Hurricane Center.
The storm is likely to disrupt travel as people try to squeeze in a few more days of summer vacation over Labor Day. Continental Airlines canceled 50 departures from Newark, N.J., on its Continental Connection and Continental Express routes along the East Coast, beginning last night. Other airlines were watching the forecast and waiving fees for changing flights. Amtrak canceled trains to Newport News, near Virginia's coast, from Richmond, Va., and Washington. Ferry operators across the Northeast warned their service would likely be interrupted.
And the Army Corps of Engineers warned it would have to close the two bridges connecting Cape Cod to the rest of Massachusetts if winds got above 70 mph.
Staff writer Tom Dalton contributed to this Associated Press report.
Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results
Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class
Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack
Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria
NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz
Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp
Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium
50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning
Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House
Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami
Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window
Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station
Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach
CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Raw Video: Fight Erupts in Ukrainian Parliament
Texan Ranchers Remain Wary of Drought
Raw Video: Soldiers Plant Flags at Arlington
Police: Man Arrested in Etan Patz Disappearance
NYC Protests: the Revolution Will Be Scripted
Chicago U.S. Attorney Fitzgerald Resigns
