Earl has became a hurricane today and developed a rather intense inner core over the last couple of hours.  The CDO or Earl is becoming well defined and he is on his way to become a major hurricane within the next 24-36 hours if not sooner than that.  The forward speed has slowed slightly and is allowing for the storm to become more organized and compact.  The northern Leeward Islands should have there hurricane preparations completed NOW!

Earl is showing a much better outflow signal today as Danielle has been pushed toward the north and sheared apart as the upper trough axis pushes toward the east north of Earl.  This should eventually be an influence in turning Earl more northerly within the next 72 hours and will hopefully keep it away from the east coast of the US.

Behind Earl…..we have 97L….future Fiona.  This system has the biggest potential to bring big trouble to the US in the form of some kind of landfall.  The latest 12z European shows a disaster situation for portions of the northern Gulf as a major hurricane barrels toward the coastline in about 10 days.

That is likely a Category 3-5 storm in the Gulf per this run of the European weather model.  Surface pressures of 939mb support winds in the 130+ mph range which would devastate the coast line.  We will continue to monitor this situation as the days go by and things begin to develop.  Keep in mind….Fiona isn’t even a storm yet but many of the weather models and ensembles to develop it into a large, major hurricane.