By yesterday Earl looked truly daunting, reaching Category 4 status with winds of 145 miles per hour. But this morning (Friday) meteorologists declared that Earl had weakened to a Category 1 hurricane.

This image was taken this morning by a weather satellite called GOES-13. It shows Earl (top) creeping up the coast, with the disorganized Tropical Storm Fiona following behind. Geostationary satellites like GOES-13 orbit at about 22,300 miles above the Earth.