They should not get too excited about Hurricane Earl, a powerful storm that will be moving too swiftly toward shore and remain too close to shore to allow for clean conditions with the swells it produces."It's not a good scenario at all and it's downright dangerous," said Mike Watson, a Florida-based forecaster for Surfline, which monitors surfing conditions around the world. "Surfers should be more concerned about safety."
Hurricane Earl, as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, was a Category 4 storm packing 135-mph winds, located along the fringe of the Caribbean. It's churning to the west-northwest at 14 mph but will pick up speed and could strengthen to a Category 5 storm before arriving just off North Carolina late Thursday.
The National Hurricane Center predicts it will turn to the north instead of making landfall and essentially skirt the coast as it plots to the north, remaining at hurricane strength through at last Saturday and perhaps forcing large-scale evacuations.
Hurricane Earl will be much closer to shore than its predecessor, Hurricane Danielle, which generated large surf and strong rip currents that led to hundreds of rescues and was blamed for the death of a surfer off Satellite Beach, Fla.Lifeguards expect more perilous conditions to be created by Earl, with high surf arriving on parts of the East Coast as early as Wednesday.
Watson, who said Florida is the only state that might get clean surf, being far enough south and west of the storm's track, explained that part of the danger associated with Hurricane Earl is its swift shoreward direction. It will follow closely behind the swells it generates, so surfers who are tempted to paddle out in what they perceive to be clean conditions can expect conditions to deteriorate rapidly.
"It's just too close to the coast," Watson said of the storm. "We like to see them out toward Bermuda, where we get the swell but we don't get the weather with it. Danielle was a good swell producer but for the most part with Earl, surfers should be home getting prepared [for the storm's arrival], just like everyone else."
-- Top image shows Hurricane Earl along the fringe of the Caribbean southeast of Florida on Monday. The storm is expected to arrive just off North Carolina late Thursday. Credit: NASA GOES Project. Bottom graphic showing the storm's projected path courtesy of the National Hurricane Center.
