i m lester holt. a strengthening hurricane arthur is skirting the eastern seaboard tonight on track for a dangerous july 4 rendezvous with north carolina, forcing thousands of vacationers to flee the coastline. the storm develop enter into a category one hurricane early this morning. it now packs sustained winds of 90 miles an hour. arthur has steadily been making its way northward, gaining strength and is expected to make a direct hit on north carolina s outer banks as a category two storm. tonight, there are hour cain warnings along the north carolina coast, up to the virginia border and tropical storm warnings now posted as far north as nantucket and cape cod. the weather channel s jim cantore leads off our coverage on the outer banks of north carolina. jim, good evening. reporter: good evening, lester. arthur is trying its best to be the earliest known land falling hurricane in history in the state of north carolina. and unfortunately it is going to pack a punch. it s a