Hurricane Earl Path Update: Long Island Can Expect Hurricane Watches, Warnings

Powerful Hurricane Earl is seen on a monitor at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2010, wheeled toward the East Coast, driving the first tourists Wednesday from North Carolina vacation islands and threatening damaging winds and waves up the Atlantic seaboard over Labor Day weekend.(AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Long Island can expect a hurricane watch to be issued Wednesday night, which should turn into a warning by Thursday, meteorologists from The Weather Channel said. 

Meteorologists predict that Long Island, especially the South Shore and Eastern Suffolk County, will receive strong winds, heavy surf, beach erosion and heavy rain with possible localized flooding on Friday.

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Hurricane Earl is currently a Category 3 storm and was about 680 miles away from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. Earl’s hurricane force winds extend 90 miles from the center and its tropical storm force winds extend up to 200 miles.

According to the National Weather Center, an air force plane’s preliminary data shows that Earl is beginning to strengthen and could possibly become a Category 4 storm again Wednesday evening. Forecasters also predict that Earl will continue to move toward the northwest and will gradually turn to the north on Thursday.