Hurricane Earl's Path to Skirt U.S.—No Hurricane Fiona?
As weather systems repel Hurricane Earl from the U.S. East Coast, tropical storm Fiona forms but may not become a hurricane.
That's a good thing, considering that, as of late Monday afternoon, Earl was raging with sustained winds of about 135 miles (215 kilometers) an hour, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Similar conditions may help keep tropical storm Fiona—which formed Monday afternoon—at bay too, according to meteorologist Keith Blackwell of the University of South Alabama's Coastal Weather Research Center.
"The weather system and its associated upper-level jet stream winds are pushing Earl off the East Coast," Blackwell said.
But Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (map), and Cape Cod, Massachusetts (map)—which jut well into the Atlantic Ocean—likely will feel winds of at least 35 miles (56 kilometers) an hour as Hurricane Earl churns past later this week, Blackwell said.
And though
