Hurricane Earl Strengthens, Heads for North Carolina
This article is for subscribers only.
Hurricane Earl bore down on North Carolina with winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour, prompting coastal evacuations and emergency declarations, while storm warnings were issued in Bermuda as Tropical Storm Fiona advanced.
Earl is the third-strongest hurricane ever to travel so far north along the East Coast, Weather Underground co-founder Jeff Masters said today in his blog. Its winds are just 5 mph below the strength of the 1955 and 1961 storms that hold the record, he said.