Earl stays away

Hurricane Earl, the storm that emergency officials and weather forecasters feared, stayed on track and off the coast, causing little more than a distraction to area residents.

Earl weakened Thursday night and shifted east farther from the coast and caused no major problems in the area, according to Craven County emergency management officials. There were reports of a few isolated power outages, and no major flooding was reported in eastern Craven County along the Neuse River and associated creeks.

As of Friday morning, Earl was moving northeast away from the Carolina coast, and residents were going about their normal business, although Craven County Schools were on a three-hour delay.

Cherry Point workers reported on a normal schedule on Friday.

Forecasters and emergency officials warned that any slight deviation to the west could bring major consequences to the area. In the end, the storm did pretty much what forecasters thought, which was stay east of the North Carolina coast.

Though forecasters had predicted a weakening storm from the one that had 145 mph winds on Thursday morning, that it had weakened so much to 105 mph winds by the time it was moving off the coast surprised forecasters who had predicted a 125 mph storm.

With the weakening storm and movement to the east, the Havelock area felt no major impacts from the storm. Winds peaked at 39 mph early Friday - right at the threshold of tropical-storm force - and just two-thirds of an inch of rain fell, according to the National Weather Service office in Newport. 

Havelock High School opened as a hurricane shelter, with Craven County declaring a state of emergency in advance of Earl on Thursday. By Friday morning, the rain had stopped, clouds were starting to break up and warm sunshine was beginning to appear, a harbinger of what was forecasted to be a calm and sunny Labor Day weekend.

The weather service predicts highs in the upper 80s on Saturday and middle 80s on Sunday and Monday, with sunny skies greeting those who wish to celebrate or hit the beach on the last unofficial weekend of the summer.

Along the coast, waves are expected to remain high on Friday, and a gale warning was in effect, but the seas are expected to calm over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Fiona remained well out to sea and was moving north, possibly impacting Bermuda. Tropical Storm Gaston, which formed Wednesday, had been downgraded to a remnant low pressure, but National Hurricane Center forecasters were keeping an eye on it for possible redevelopment as it moved slowly west toward the Leeward Islands. Forecasters were also watching another system that had emerged off Africa and into the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday for possible development.