Four things you need to know about Friday, July 4

Friday, July 4, 2014, 7:24 AM - Wondering what you missed overnight or what you can expect for the day ahead? 

Here's your weather briefing for Friday, July 4. 

1. Hurricane Arthur makes landfall on North Carolina islands

After growing in strength to a Category 2 storm, Hurricane Arthur made landfall in North Carolina shortly before midnight packing winds of about 155 km/h.

EXTENDED ACTIVE WEATHER COVERAGE: Tune in to The Weather Network for live updates on the summer storms in your area. Our team of reporters and meteorologists in the field provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date coverage.

Fourth-of-July vacationers fled beaches in North Carolina Thursday as the hurricane came ashore.

VIDEO: @JimCantore experiences the storm surge in Waves, NC. https://t.co/k5dJfFoRi4

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) July 4, 2014

Despite strong winds and waves reported, damage from the storm so far appears to be minimal. There are however, about 20,000 customers without power along the North Carolina coast as a result of the hurricane's impact.

The U.S. National Weather Service says Arthur won't stay in North Carolina long as it's expected to speed up dumping rain all the way up to Maine today.

A tropical storm warning is in place from North Carolina to Massachusetts.

Eye of #Hurricane #Arthur now back over the ocean, but the impacts continue in eastern NC, southeast VA. pic.twitter.com/tcFU98ycUc

— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) July 4, 2014

2. Next stop: Atlantic Canada

Forecasters at the Canadian Hurricane Centre say Arthur will likely make landfall in southwestern Nova Scotia on Saturday morning as a strong post-tropical storm.

IN-DEPTH: Read digital meteorologist Scott Sutherland's detailed analysis of Arthur vs. Earl

Tropical storm watches and warnings are in effect for all of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as well as southern and eastern New Brunswick.

"A tropical storm watch means that tropical storm conditions (sustained winds near 65 km/h or more) are possible over parts of the region within 36 hours," the CHC says. "By nature a tropical storm also implies the threat of local flooding from heavy rainfall."

"Regardless of how strong Arthur gets while over the warm waters of the gulf stream near North Carolina, its small inner core where the strongest winds are located will begin to breakdown as the storm moves over colder waters late Friday," adds Weather Network chief meteorologist Chris Scott. "As this happens, Arthur will also begin to merge with an upper level trough (dip in the jet stream) overnight Friday into Saturday morning. The storm will effectively be mutating from a tropical system into something that looks more like a nor’easter. The maximum sustained winds will not be as strong once the inner core dissipates, but the merger with the upper level trough will serve to keep the overall system strong and actually cause it to grow in size."

For more details on rain and wind impact in Atlantic Canada, check out the detailed analysis from Chris Scott.

#Arthur will become a mutant storm by the time it hits Maritimes. Elements of a hurricane and nor'easter #atlstorm pic.twitter.com/XQh0TL4VMw

— Chris Scott (@ChrisScottWx) July 3, 2014

3. Arthur vs. Earl

Atlantic Canada is certainly no stranger to hurricanes and tropical storms, but with the approach of Hurricane Arthur for this weekend, thoughts are turning back to four years ago, when a similar storm - Hurricane Earl - caught many Maritimers off guard.

Hurricane Earl made landfall on September 4, 2010 as a Category 1 storm, blasting southeastern Nova Scotia with sustained winds of 120 km/h.

"Even regions over 100 kilometres away, including Halifax and Dartmouth, were hit with wind gusts that easily matched the winds in the core of the storm," says digital meteorologist Scott Sutherland. "By the time the storm had passed, the Maritimes were drenched with up to 76 mm of rainfall, trees and branches were down across all four provinces, and nearly a million people were left without power. In the aftermath, residents had commented about how they hadn't expected the storm to be as bad as it was."

Maritimers aren't likely to be caught off guard this time around though, especially since Arthur is taking a path that's very similar to the one that Earl took in 2010.

4. The Weather Network heads to Atlantic Canada ahead of Hurricane Arthur

As Hurricane Arthur barrels towards Atlantic Canada, The Weather Network team is busy tracking the storm.

In #Halifax? We'll be looking for your stories tomorrow afternoon + All Weekend - Live on The Weather Network on TV #Arthur #AtlStorm

— Chris St.Clair (@cstclair1) July 3, 2014

Our group of experts at our National Forecast Centre in Oakville, Ont. and our teams in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will be providing the latest updates all weekend long. Tune into The Weather Network on TV for in-depth analysis of Hurricane Arthur.

You can check out the full programming details here.