A hurricane watch was issued for part of North Carolina's coast early Wednesday as Tropical Storm Arthur moved northward, threatening Friday's Independence Day plans along the U.S. east coast. The storm's maximum sustained winds early Wednesday were near 95 kilometers per hour (kph), and the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami said Arthur was expected to strengthen into a hurricane by Thursday. With the July Fourth weekend coming, the Atlantic hurricane season's first named storm moved slowly off the coast of Florida. At 1200 GMT, Arthur was centered about 160 kilometers east-northeast of Cape Canaveral and was moving north near 9 kph. The NHC urged people as far north as parts of Virginia to monitor Arthur's path.
