Hurricane Earl is east of the Turks and headed to the northwest. By Thursday night it will be bearing down on the Outer Banks of North Carolina with 90mph winds. From there, Earl will head for Long Island, Providence and Boston Friday through Saturday, lashing those areas with heavy rain and wind gusts of about 60 to 70 mph.
High surf and beach erosion will be the biggest issue from the Outer Banks to the tip of Maine.
Some sector impacts:
Retail: If the National Weather Service is fairly liberal about issuing hurricane watches and warnings, items such as plywood, duct tape, bottled water and water in 1 gallon jugs, gasoline, generators and batteries will fly off the shelf. Labor Day store sales of clothing could suffer.
Energy: Again, if the National Weather Service splashes hurricane watches and warning up the East Coast, gasoline will probably fall in short supply in some areas as some people gas up and head inland. This will be especially true should hurricane watches and warning be posted from New Jersey to Maine.
Agriculture: New England crops have been running ahead of schedule and perhaps early harvest will save any commodities grown within 25 miles of the coast. Those areas will be prone to heavy rainfall of 3 to 6 inches if Earl is close enough to shore.
Aviation: The greatest impact will be on overseas flights which may have some problems getting around Earl Friday and Saturday. Airports most likely affected will be Dulles, Baltimore, JFK and Boston. Reagan National, Newark and LaGuardia will have fewer issues because of the domestic nature of their operations. However, airlines who rely on government weather forecasts may have to delay or cancel flights depending on forecast conditions, while airlines with meteorologists on staff may keep flying.
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