The National Weather Service says Maryland may feel the fringes of Tropical Storm Ophelia after she brushes by the Outer Banks around mid-week. Here's the statement. The forecasters at Sterling have also posted small craft advisories on the Chesapeake, and in coastal waters from Fenwick Island, Del., south to the Carolinas.

The National Hurricane Center downgraded Hurricane Ophelia to tropical storm status again today after spotter planes clocked its highest sustained winds at about 70 mph. But it may be just a technicality. The storm is expected to continue to move toward the Carolina shores, and could well regain hurricane status later today. It's a distinction without a difference at this point. Ophelia is fluctuating between about 70 mph and 75 mph - a meaningless difference if you're in the storm's path. But the rules of the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale say top sustained winds of 73 mph makes a tropical storm, but at 74 it becomes a hurricane.

Whatever. Here is the latest forecast track, as best they can figure it out. Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches are posted from South Carolina north to Point Lookout, N.C. And here is the view from space. That's a good-looking storm.