Hurricane Earl could slow travel to the North Carolina coast for the Labor Day holiday.
Katie Roussy, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh, said yesterday that Earl, a Category 4 storm, is expected to pass offshore, brushing the Outer Banks, bringing rain and wind.
Roussy suggested that people who are traveling to the coast Thursday and Friday check ahead.
"There is no telling how much damage they may have," she said. "Beach erosion and that kind of stuff is going to be pretty prevalent down there."
Weather conditions on the coast should be much better by the latter part of the weekend, she said.
Nationally, the AAA auto club expects 34.4 million travelers to take trips of at least 50 miles away from home, about a 10 percent increase from last year.
Brendan Byrnes, a spokesman for AAA Carolinas, said that state numbers will be released today. Last year, an estimated 1 million North Carolinians traveled on Labor Day, and Byrnes said he expects the number to climb slightly less than 10 percent.
AAA Carolinas has not heard about a lot of cancellations because of Hurricane Earl, but Byrnes said that some hotels have five-day cancellation policies.
"So it's tough," he said. "A lot of times you can't get all your money back."
Several state agencies are providing information.
Officials at the N.C. Department of Transportation said they are determining where to deploy crews and equipment before and after the storm. Also, ferries have been moved to Stumpy Point and Rodanthe in case they are needed on the emergency ferry route.
The agency is also providing travel conditions through its 18 Twitter feeds. A list is available at www
.ncdot.gov/travel/twitter.
VisitNC.com, the state's travel and tourism website, will post travel updates.
"We've also got to keep in mind that this is happening toward the end of the work week, and there is a good chance that a lot of the areas along the coast may not be negatively affected," said Margo Metzger, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Division of Tourism. "So that's why we're encouraging people to stay abreast of the situation and staying in touch with their lodging property."
Richard Geiger, the president of Visit Winston-Salem, said he expects a decent number of visitors locally over the weekend.
"This would be a great place to come and visit and enjoy our attractions like Old Salem, the Reynolda House, and enjoy our arts and our restaurants or anything else we have to offer," Geiger said.
Hurricane Earl is not expected to have much effect on the Triad.
"It's going to be how it has been the past couple of days --mostly clear skies, relatively warm and a dry forecast for the next couple of days," Roussy said.
A cold front is expected Friday night through Saturday, without any rain.
"It should be a dry passage," Roussy said, adding that the only thing people will notice is lower temperatures.
Locally, temperatures are expected to be in the low to mid-90s for the next few days. By the weekend, they should drop to the mid- to upper 80s.
fdaniel@wsjournal.com
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