Category 2 Hurricane Nicole weakening: NHC

(Reuters) - Hurricane Nicole is weakening as it heads towards the central Atlantic, with swells spreading northward along the U.S. east coast and into Atlantic Canada, the National Hurricane Center said in an advisory. Nicole, a category 2 hurricane, was located about 715 miles (1,150 km) south of Halifax, Nova Scotia and was packing maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (155 km/h), it added. "Weakening was forecast during the next 12 to 24 hours, but Nicole is expected to remain a powerful cyclone, even when it could become a post-tropical cyclone on Saturday," the NHC added. (Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)