Climate and Atmospheric Circulation

LiveScience.com - The National Hurricane Center warns that Hurricane Earl may swing by dangerously close to the U.S. East Coast before curving back out to sea. While the odds are it won't strike New York City directly, such an event is not unprecedented, and the city has plans in place to evacuate - and to hunker down - if need be.

AFP - A pilotless NASA aircraft is set to overfly Hurricane Earl on Thursday, in a scientific first to gather data about the potentially-deadly storm front bearing down on the US east coast.

AP - Typhoon Kompasu struck South Korea on Thursday, killing at least four people and toppling trees, streetlights and scaffolding in what was called the strongest storm to hit the Seoul area in 15 years.

AFP - Hurricane Earl quickly closed in on a large part of the US east coast on Thursday, as tens of thousands of people fled North Carolina's barrier islands to avoid dangerous winds and surf.

AP - Hurricane Earl was barreling toward the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday with winds swirling at around 145 mph and forecasters were trying to pinpoint exactly how close the strongest winds and heaviest surge would get to North Carolina's fragile chain of barrier islands.

Reuters - Hurricane Earl gained more punch on Thursday as the large storm churned up the Atlantic threatening the U.S. East Coast with dangerous winds and large swells and forcing evacuations in North Carolina.

AP - Hurricane Earl steamed toward the Eastern Seaboard early Thursday as communities from North Carolina to New England kept a close eye on the forecast, worried that even a slight shift in the storm's predicted offshore track could put millions of people in the most densely populated part of the country in harm's way.

AP - Sophisticated computer models that replaced instinct with cold, hard math have helped forecasters predict where a storm like Hurricane Earl is going about twice as accurately as 20 years ago.

AFP - Hurricane Earl intensified in the Atlantic to become a category four hurricane again Wednesday as sustained winds rose to 135 miles (215 kilometers) per hour, the National Hurricane Center said.