By Times Staff
—
Cape Ann and the rest of Essex County are no longer under a formal tropical storm warning as Hurricane Earl continues to weaken and shift to the East, and forecasts continue to scale back the potential impact on people in Gloucester, Rockport, Essex or Manchester.
But heavy rain and sustained winds of 20-40 miles per hour are still expected tonight as the storm moves past the shores of Gloucester and Rockport sometime between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
As the hurricane altered its course to one steering it slghtly farther off the coast, the National Weather Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today lifted the tropical storm warning designation for Cape Ann and all of Essex County shortly before noon.
The storm, which began the day as a Category 2 hurricane off North Carolina and Virgina, is now expected to pass some 75-100 miles east and south of Nantucket and Cape Cod, not the 30-50 mile distance projected earlier this morning.
While Nancucket, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod remain under a full hurricane warning — anticipating Earl as a Category 1 storm — the South Shore has been scaled back to a tropical storm, rather than hurricane, warning area. But Massachusetts areas north of Boston have been removed from the warning zone. That indicates that any effects from the storm would fall below the 40-mile-per-hour sustained wind figure.
With 20-40 mph winds still in the forecast, Cape Ann can still be subject to wind gusts of more than 50 mph along wioth heavy overnight rains. By comparison, however, the nor'easter that raged through Cape Ann the night of Feb. 25 — downing trees and power lines and ripping the roofs off some buildings on Gloucester's Back Shore — included sustained winds of 70 mph measured in Rockport, with gusts of 87 mph recorded at Gap Cove.
Residents should prepare for potential power outages, and take other precautions for the storm — including staying clear of the shore, where dangerous riptides are once again expected. Rain from the front lines of Earl is expected to begin late this afternoon or early this evening, with winds building during that time from as well.
All Gloucester beaches have been shut down today, with the parking gates closed and no beach services. All are expected, however, to open as usual Saturday, when skies are expected to clear.
While some Labor Day Weekend events — notably the Friday night Downtown Block Party and the Saturday night lighted boat parade and fireworks display — have been canceled, the Gloucester Schooner Festival is going forward, with events still planned for Saturday and Sunday and Monday as a rain date if necessary. The first Celebrate Gloucester concert, scheduled to feature Roomful of Blues, Charles Neville, Henri Smith and many others, is also still on for Sunday, and is set to run from 3 to 11 p.m. on the city's waterfront I-4, C-2 site off Rogers Street.
Earl has already had other local impacts. Most boats within Gloucester's offshore commercial fishing fleet, for example, returned from Georges Bank by Thursday night. Fisherman Russell Sherman said the fishing was "mediocre" due to powerful currents from the previous offshore passing of Danielle, and in advance of Earl.
In Essex, Police Chief and Harbor master Pete Silva said his crews are ready to respond to anticipated downed trees, power lines and other issues. Also, Silva and Rockport harbormaster Rosemary Lesch are urging people to remove their recreational boats from the water until after Earl passes.
In the event shelters or emergency services are needed, emergency officials are poised to open four Cape Ann shelters tonight if necessary. If needed, they would be as follows:
Gloucester — Fuller School.
Rockport — Rockport High School.
Manchester and Essex — Manchester Essex High School
We will update this story here at gloucestertimes.com as new storm information becomes available throughout the day. To have text alerts regarding the storm sent to your mobile phone, just sign up for the Times' free text-alert service on the gloucesertimes.com homepage.
For more coverage, look to tomorrow's and Monday's print and online editions of the Gloucester Daily Times and gloucestertimes.com.
