Although the National Hurricane Center posted a hurricane watch for the Delaware beaches and tropical-storm warnings from Virginia Beach to Sandy Hook, N.J., they were more a function of Earl's unusually large coverage area than fears that it would jog westward.
"This is a fairly good-size storm," said meteorologist Bob Wanton of the National Weather Service in Mount Holly. Hurricane-force winds, 74 m.p.h. or better, radiated 90 miles from the storm's eye. Tropical-storm-force winds extended about 180 miles northwest of the center, Wanton said.
"The hurricane center always errs on the side of safety," he said.
Computer guidance continued to insist that Earl would turn northeast once it reached Hatteras, N.C., late Thursday. It was expected to pass within 200 miles of the South Jersey coast Friday afternoon before speeding toward New England.
As for Philadelphia and the mainland, it could be quite a windy weekend - but that would likely be from breezes in the wake of a cold front that will help nudge Earl offshore.
Hurricanes are notoriously volatile, and two of the state's most-damaging in terms of flooding - in 1938 and 1944 - followed offshore tracks.
Harry J. Lombardi, 87, who lived in Ventnor, recalled watching the waves from a second-floor oceanfront window on Sept. 14, 1944.
"The water came right through the front door and halfway up the stairs," said Lombardi, who now lives in wave-free Bala Cynwyd. "When the water receded, I ran as fast as I could to a neighbor's house."
With Earl's track subject to change, New Jersey's emergency management officials watched the storm closely on Wednesday.
It already was kicking up the surf, and some beach patrols in Cape May, Atlantic, and Ocean Counties limited swimmers to knee-deep and waist-deep bathing.
