I can't lie. I'm addicted to weather. I should have been a meteorologist but I'm not. I don't ever want harm to come from hurricanes, but I'm fascinated by them regardless.

I think the NC beaches will be fine by the weekend. NC is going to get a glancing blow and Earl was downgraded to a 3 this morning. Massachusetts though? Not looking like a good weekend for them.

This is my favorite hurricane tracking site. I love the spaghetti model.

http://www.boatus.com/hurricanes/tracking.asp

I'm so worried about it hitting Nantucket.

I think they will, too. Still, I've been through enough hurricanes to know things can change.

We're getting out of NJ tomorrow morning/early afternoon so barring a huge wind speed increase we'll miss the storm. My coworker is heading for SC on Saturday though and is hoping to miss it all (and that it doesn't come back around or something crazy.)

If the beaches of NC aren't ready for tourists this weekend, there are many beaches in Michigan that will be perfect! (Lake beaches, not ocean beaches, but beaches nonetheless!)

If only there were time for the trip. :D

We used to make the 10 hour drive to Charlotte for a long weekend, with tiny babies too!

(For 12-14 years my only vacations were to the Carolinas..)

My head hurts thinking about that -- though I've done it to Florida, too. (And my head hurt by the time I was done. :D)

My head hurts now remembering it!(although it was usually Thanksgiving so it was an extra long weekend)

Double posting now... Earl is back up to a Cat 4 which is not good. MC: Are your plans for the Outer Banks? It may not be looking good if so.

They are saying it's moved further west and Nantucket is in the direct path. I'm so worried about our house. It's only supposed to be Friday and gone by Saturday but could still do a lot of damage.

Nantucket, MV and the Cape are going to get slammed. I hope that everyone is safe and sustains only minimal damage.

Close, but no. We're headed to Bogue Banks, if you know where that is. (West/south of Cape Lookout, which is the southern end of the Outer Banks.) It's been evacuated, but they still aren't anticipating that it will get hit.

We're under a tropical storm watch here in CT. It ends later today, even though tomorrow is supposed to be the bad day weather-wise. :confused: It looks like we're just going to get a lot of rain. Which we could use.

Everyone who is in Earl's path - stay safe.

my parents live on the southern coast of RI. I hope they will be okay.