How Hampton Roads missed Earl

PORTSMOUTH, Va (WAVY) - Experts said Hampton Roads missed Hurricane Earl's impact by about 40 miles.

Norfolk received some rain, but for the little bit of rain that fell on Friday afternoon, Timothy Gidden didn't even bother with an umbrella. He said he prepared for the worst though. "Of course we did the usual Walmart run - got everything we needed to get," said Gidden.

As Earl was making its way up the east coast, Norfolk officials opened city garages so people could move their cars to higher ground.

Hurricane Earl even gave some people a day off work. "ODU cancelled classes for today, and we're like why?" said Kristi Marsh, who got the day off.

Meteorologist Jeremy Wheeler said the reason why there were closings was becuase Earl was 83 miles off shore. He said just a wiggle to the west and things would have looked much different. "If we would have had Earl pass about 40 miles to the west we would have felt a lot more impact. We probably would have felt some hurricane force wind gusts to about 75 mps," said Wheeler.

When forecasting, meteorologists said 40 miles is nothing. In fact, some of the computer models disagreed by one or two hundred miles. That's why Norfolk's Public Relations Manager Bob Batcher said the city was not upset about giving away free parking. "There's nothing worse then being not prepared and having a hit, that's frustrating," said Batcher.

Experts said this storm was just too close too call, but Timothy Gidden said he'll be ready for the next one. Gidden said, "Always better to be safe than sorry."