hurricane earl was an intense and long-lived hurricane that was also the first such storm to threaten new england since hurricane bob nineteen years earlier. the storm's center passed eighty six miles east of north carolina on september 3, 2010. the storm then moved northeast, eventually being downgraded to tropical storm status and then becoming a hurricane again shortly before the storm made landfall in nova scotia. before lashing the eastern united states, the hurricane passed extremely close to the leeward islands; the damage there totaled $40 million (2010 usd).