Residents in the Maritimes are bracing for Hurricane Earl's arrival this Labour Day weekend, with the storm spinning up the east coast Thursday evening and the latest storm tracking showing New Brunswick could be the hardest hit province in Canada.

The giant storm moved slightly to the west on Thursday, but remained on track to strike the Maritimes.

Forecasters say they can't pinpoint where Earl would be making its entrance in Canada. But they issued a hurricane watch for southern Nova Scotia. Tropical storm watches were in effect for the rest of Nova Scotia, southeast New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Meteorologists say it's a huge hurricane and its effects would be felt hundreds of kilometers from wherever it comes ashore.

"There would probably be an equal probability ... of the centre of the storm coming near Grand Manan (New Brunswick) as there would be near the Digby (Nova Scotia) area," forecaster Chris Fogarty told reporters at the Canadian Hurricane Centre on Thursday. He added it hasn't been ruled out that Earl could make landfall south of the border in Maine.

"I've seen, in the past, storms can behave interestingly in terms of the track," he said.

Warmer-than-usual water temperatures south of Nova Scotia might help fuel Earl's strength as a Category 1 hurricane, meaning it could pack winds between 119 km/h and 152 km/h. The hurricane centre said a Great Lakes trough that will advance through Eastern Canada will cause the storm to accelerate through Atlantic Canada as it weakens.

Andy Morton, director of New Brunswick's Emergency Measures Organization, warned of a potential for power outages and telephone outages due to snapped lines.

"Most definitely, people have to be adjusting their activity level on Saturday to meet with what the weather is going to be dishing out to us," he said.

Earl rumbles towards U.S. coast

Meanwhile, residents along the U.S. east coast are bracing for the worst as Earl closed in on North Carolina's Outer Banks with 177 km/h winds on Thursday evening.

Tourists have largely evacuated vulnerable islands off of North Carolina as Earl nears.

"I'm standing in front of the beach in Atlantic Beach, N.C., and there is not a single person that I see on the beach," said CTV's Omar Sachedina.

"This city has gone from boom town to ghost town and officials are saying if you don't need to come here don't, and anybody who is here is being warned to leave."

It's unclear how close the center of the storm would get to land, but U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Craig Fugate warned conditions could "deteriorate rapidly" and urged people to leave the area.

"This is a day of action," he said.

Earl weakened into a Category 2 storm on Thursday and was expected to slow down as it moved into cooler waters. But forecasters said the size of the storm's wind field was getting bigger -- as it did when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast five years ago.

"The storm won't be as strong, but they spread out as they go north and the rain will be spreading from New England," said.

With files from The Canadian Press