GOES-13 satellite sees Hurricane Earl's clouds covering the US Northeast

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NOAA/NASA GOES Project

Hurricane Earl lashed the North Carolina coast last night and this morning, September 3, and is now headed for Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This morning's image from the GOES-13 satellite saw Hurricane Earl's clouds covering most of the northeastern U.S. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite known as GOES-13 captured an image of Hurricane Earl at 7:32 a.m. EDT this morning, September 3. The image clearly showed a huge Hurricane Earl northeast of North Carolina with cloud cover stretching over the northeastern U.S. A disorganized Fiona was also seen southeast of Earl near Bermuda. GOES satellites are operated by NOAA, and images and animations are created by the NASA GOES Project at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Hurricane Warnings and Watches and Tropical Storm Warnings and Watches were in effect today from North Carolina to Massachusetts. For all warnings, visit: www.nhc.noaa.gov/.

At 8 a.m. EDT today, Earl was a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds near 105 with higher gusts. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the center and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 205 miles.

At 8 a.m. EDT Dare County (North Carolina) regional airport North Carolina reported a wind gust to 70 mph. Estimated minimum central pressure is 955 Millibars.

The National Weather Service forecast for Nags Head, North Carolina for Friday calls for "Tropical storm conditions expected, with hurricane conditions possible. Showers, mainly before 11am with a high near 87. Northwest wind 45 to 55 mph decreasing to between 25 and 30 mph. Winds could gust as high as 75 mph." Nags Head is currently under a hurricane warning.

Earl is about 130 miles east-northeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and 395 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Mass., near 36.2 North and 73.6 West. It was moving north-northeast near 18 mph and is expected to turn toward the northeast between 8 p.m. EDT tonight and 8 a.m. EDT on Saturday. Earl will approach southeastern New England tonight.

Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center