Long period Earl swells (around 15 seconds) filtered into Florida and the Southeast Wednesday morning and started to reach Delmarva late this afternoon. Many of these areas were seeing head high and bigger surf. SE Earl swells will propagate into New Jersey and the Northeast on Thursday.
Many East Coast locations will see over head high surf on Thursday. Wind conditions are always a big concern with hurricanes, and areas in North Carolina will deal with giant waves and highly dangerous, victory at sea conditions. Select areas, further away from the storm will see periods of lighter winds and better conditions.
As Earl moves up the coast on Friday, he is expected to go dangerously close to some coastal locales and the National Hurricane Center has issued Hurricane/Tropical Storm watches and warnings for most locations from North Carolina through Cape Cod. The Victory at Sea conditions and dangerous surf will move northward along with Earl, while the south half of the coast will see dropping wave heights and cleaner conditions. This pattern will trend northward into Saturday.
So, what is next?
After Earl exits stage right, the East Coast should see plenty of residual ground swells filter in during the beginning of next week. Fiona does not appear to be a major player, but Gaston could very well be the next major event. And yes, another tropical wave just moved off of Africa. So, there is no need to get all your surfing in on one day, because September is shaping up to be a memorable one!
Visit the Swellinfo.com Hurricane Center for all the up to date information:
Atlantic Satellite Animation
Hurricane Earl discussion
Tropical Outlook
Tropical Storm Gaston