Hurricane Earl is the seventh depression, fifth storm, third hurricane and second major hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic Hurricane season. Forming as a classical Cape Verde-type hurricane from a Easterly wave associated with a monsoonal trough on August 25, it slowly organized, becoming a tropical storm later that day near the Cape Verde Islands. It maintained peak winds of 45 mph for two days, before slowly strengthening into a 60 mph tropical storm. It then maintained that wind speed for another twelve hours, before becoming the season's third hurricane. On August 30 at 11:00 AM AST, Earl intensified into a category 3 hurricane, making it the second major hurricane of the season after Hurricane Danielle. Later that day, Earl intensified further into a category 4 hurricane. Earl is the first Cape Verde-type hurricane to affect the Leeward Islands since Hurricane Georges. It is currently predicted to affect the Outer Banks of North Carolina and possibly Atlantic Canada.
Earl formed from a very well organized area of low pressure and moved into the Atlantic Ocean as a vigorous monsoon trough on early August 22. After moving off the west coast of Africa, a surface low started to develop near the area of thunderstorms. The surface low was able to organize the area of thunderstorms, allowing deep convection to occur near it. Because of the area's increasing thunderstorm organization, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) indicated on August 24 that the system had a 90% chance of becoming a tropical depression within the next 48 hours. 18 hours later, the NHC classified the system as Tropical Depression Seven at around 11 am AST (1500 UTC) on August 25, while it was located about 430 mi (690 km) west of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands. Six hours later, at approximately 5 pm AST (2100 UTC), the system's maximum sustained winds were estimated to be 40 mph (65 km/h). Accordingly, the depression was declared to have become the fifth tropical storm of the season, and received the name Earl.
Earl was forecast to head westward while gradually strengthening under the influence of low wind shear and warm ocean temperatures. However, dry air caught in Earl's circulation precluded additional intensification, causing the storm to maintain 45 mph (75 km/h) maximum sustained winds for 36 hours. On August 29, the storm resumed gradual intensification, even though wind shear increased due to the outflow from nearby Hurricane Danielle. The wind shear caused Earl's low level center of circulation to become exposed, limiting Earl's intensification to 60 mph (95 km/h) maximum sustained winds during the following 12 hours. As the outflow from Danielle moved away into the north Atlantic, Earl further intensified into a category two hurricane at 105 mph (165 km/h). By 5 pm AST (2100 UTC) on August 30, Earl intensified even more into a Category 4 hurricane, making it the second major hurricane of the season. Earl slightly weakened on August 31 due to an ongoing eyewall replacement cycle.
Caribbean
On August 27, France issued a tropical storm watch for the French side of Saint Martin and Saint Barthélemy. The next day, Antigua and Barbuda and the Netherlands issued tropical storm watches for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis and Anguilla and for Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius. Prior to Earl's arrival in the Leeward Islands, the Leeward Islands Air Transport canceled 42 flights to and from the region. The V. C. Bird International Airport was set shut down on August 29 and set to reopen after the storm passes.
Although not in the direct path of Hurricane Earl, officials in the Dominican Republic prompted evacuations of coastal towns and canceled flights across the country.
United States
On August 30, emergency officials in Massachusetts began early-stage emergency plans, ensuring that all communities have shelters, generators, sand bags and other disaster prevention materials. Officials in New York and New Jersey also responded to the threat of Earl. Evacuation plans were readied for Long Island and New York City; emergency officers in New Jersey also discussed the possibility of evacuating residents from low-lying areas along the coastline. Having experienced a fatality from a distant Hurricane Danielle earlier in August, officials in Maryland took the threat of Earl seriously. An estimated 250,000 people were expected to travel to the region for the Labor Day weekend, increasing the risk of loss of life from rip currents. Daily conference calls between state officials also began on August 30. An administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Craig Fugate, cautioned that Earl's approach warranted a reminder for evacuation plans to be updated for the U.S. east coast, noting "It wouldn't take much to have the storm come ashore somewhere on the coast. The message is for everyone to pay attention."
As of 2 p.m. AST (1800 UTC) August 31, the center of Hurricane Earl was located near 21.5°N 68.5°W, about 170 miles (275 km) east of Grand Turk Island and about 1040 miles (1675 km) south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Maximum sustained winds are estimated at 135 mph (215 km/h), with higher gusts. The minimum central pressure is estimated to be 940 mbar (hPa, 27.76 inHg) and the storm is moving west-northwest at 14 mph (22 km/h).
Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 200 miles (320 km) to the north of the center of Earl, and hurricane force winds extend outward up to 70 miles (110 km) from the center.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Earl_%282010%29
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