Hurricane Earl, now a Category 4 storm, hit the Caribbean and is expected to track close to the U.S. East Coast later this week as a major hurricane, according to reports.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, "Given the track and the large area of tropical storm force winds, a hurricane watch will likely be required for a portion of the Mid-Atlantic coast later today."

No hurricane watch is in effect yet, but the NHC said interests from the Carolinas to New England should monitor the progress of Earl.

The NHC noted, "There is still considerable uncertainty as to how close the hurricane will come to the U.S. East Coast."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), meanwhile, "is urging all Americans in East Coast states to take steps now to prepare their families and businesses for hurricanes and severe weather."

FEMA said in a statement it is coordinating through its regional offices to "aggressively prepare" should severe weather affect the East Coast.

As of 11:00 a.m. EDT, Earl was about 1,070 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, according to the NHC. The storm is wobbling, the NHC said, but is generally moving west-northwest at around 14 miles per hour, and is expected to continue along that track for the next 24 to 48 hours. It is then forecast to turn north and northeast.

Maximum sustained winds are 135 miles per hour, the NHC said, with hurricane force winds extend outward up to 70 miles from the storm's center. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 200 miles.

The NHC said the core of Hurricane Earl will move over the open Atlantic east of the Turks and Caicos Islands later today and tonight.

Interpreting the NHC forecast, catastrophe modeler RMS said the system "will pass perilously close to North Carolina, potentially impacting the U.S. eastern seaboard on Friday, Sept. 3. While RMS noted that the intensity forecast is "very uncertain," the NHC forecast is predicting it to be the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane at that time--weaker than it is currently but still a major hurricane.

Guy Carpenter's Instrat unit said the storm could potentially brush the U.S. East Coast a little earlier, on Thursday.

On Aug. 30, Earl tracked northeast of the northernmost Leeward Islands in the northeast Caribbean, RMS said. "The proximity of the system and the extent of its wind field meant that most islands were exposed to tropical storm force winds and only Anguilla was exposed to hurricane force winds," RMS said.

Catastrophe modeler AIR Worldwide said significant insured losses are not expected as a result of the storm in the areas impacted so far.

RMS said preliminary reports from the Caribbean indicate that damage is fairly light. "Whilst there are reports of some scattered roof damage and power outages, unofficial online reports suggest that most of the islands will be 'back in business' later today or tomorrow," RMS said.

Guy Carpenter added that no fatalities have been reported to date.

Currently, due to Earl, a tropical storm warning is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands, and a tropical storm watch is in effect for the Southeastern Bahamas.

Further out in the Atlantic, about 440 miles east of the Leeward Islands, a system that yesterday had a high likelihood of becoming a tropical cyclone has since formed into Tropical Storm Fiona.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for St. Martin and St. Barthelemy because of this system, and a tropical storm watch has been issued for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius.

AIR said Fiona is not expected to obtain hurricane strength "partly because it's expected to pass through the cooler waters and stabilized environment left behind by Hurricane Earl."