Earl Weakens; Latest Advisories from National Hurricane Center

A “larger but weaker” Hurricane Earl is heading for southeastern New England, the National Hurricane Center reported at 11 a.m. EST.

The center discontinued its hurricane warning for North Carolina, replacing it with a tropical storm warning north of Ocracoke.

Earl’s maximum sustained winds have dropped from 105 miles per hour to 85 miles per hour, qualifying it as a Category 1 hurricane and not the Category 3 and 4 it was yesterday.

At 11 a.m., Earl was about 300 miles off the Massachusetts coast.

Nantucket and outer Cape Cod were still expected to experience hurricane-force wind gusts but the rest of the area faces reduced risk.

Also, the tropical storm watch for western Long Island and the coast of Connecticut west of New Haven has been discontinued and all watches/warnings between Hull, Massachusetts and Cape Elizabeth, Maine have been discontinued.