Earl approaches OBX, clouds reach Maryland
Here's a pretty nice picture of Hurricane Earl taken this afternoon by a NOAA satellite.
It shows the storm's spiral clouds bearing down on the Outer Banks, with the outermost clouds now entering Southern Maryland and the Delmarva Peninsula.
The storm's course is still said to be due north, with a turn to the north northeast due Friday. Top sustained winds have dropped to 115 mph, a minimal Cat. 3 storm now
Earl is predicted to be off the Virginia Capes by 8 a.m. Friday.
Here's a very nice photo of Earl, from the NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab. Here's another, snapped by astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
If you want to track offshore air and water conditions as Earl approaches, you can click on the Diamond Shoals data buoy, off Hatteras. The barometer there has begun to fall sharply ahead of the storm. It's slipping here, too.
And here's how things are looking on the Outer Banks.
