The National Hurricane Center warns that Hurricane Earl may swing by dangerously close to the U.S. East Coast before curving back out to sea. While the odds are it won't strike New York City directly, such an event is not unprecedented, and the city has plans in place to evacuate - and to hunker down - if need be.

A pilotless NASA aircraft is set to overfly Hurricane Earl on Thursday, in a scientific first to gather data about the potentially-deadly storm front bearing down on the US east coast.

Typhoon Kompasu struck South Korea on Thursday, killing at least four people and toppling trees, streetlights and scaffolding in what was called the strongest storm to hit the Seoul area in 15 years.

Hurricane Earl steamed toward the Eastern Seaboard early Thursday as communities from North Carolina to New England kept a close eye on the forecast, worried that even a slight shift in the storm's predicted offshore track could put millions of people in the most densely populated part of the country in harm's way.

Sophisticated computer models that replaced instinct with cold, hard math have helped forecasters predict where a storm like Hurricane Earl is going about twice as accurately as 20 years ago.

AP - The North Carolina National Guard will deploy 81 troops to trouble spots from Hurricane Earl.

The Christian Science Monitor - Here's a scenario some people are dealing with this week: Hurricane Earl is bearing down. You've been told you don't need to evacuate, but you could be without power for a couple of days, maybe longer. Your windows are boarded. Your flashlights and portable radios sport fresh batteries. Your yard is cleared of potential wind-launched projectiles.

Hurricane Earl intensified in the Atlantic to become a category four hurricane again Wednesday as sustained winds rose to 135 miles (215 kilometers) per hour, the National Hurricane Center said.

AP - The Social Security Administration is delivering checks a day early to hundreds of thousands of East Coast residents to make sure the money beats Hurricane Earl's arrival.

Reuters - The head of the U.S. National Hurricane Center said on Wednesday he was highly confident Hurricane Earl would veer to the northeast starting late on Thursday, which should keep the worst of the storm from the U.S. East Coast.

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