Weather

FIRST ALERT: Increasing Winds, Rain Taking Aim at Southern Region With Nor'easter

A prolonged coastal storm is set to last through several high tide cycles. We are in First Alert mode for the next few days due to this impending high-impact weather system.

The wind started coming from the Northeast late Tuesday at light speeds. Wednesday, the wind picks up in intensity and the rain develops across southern New England.

This is day one of what looks like about a three-day nor’easter.

Low pressure is intensifying to our south over the open water as high-pressure builds north. The gradient between a strong high-pressure system and the moderately strong low-pressure system warrants a storm watch on the ocean.

That means we may see sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts past 55 mph, especially Thursday.

Due to the slow-moving nature of the system, we have about 72 hours’ worth of potential coastal erosion, and possible coastal flooding.

And it’s not just at the ocean -- rain bands will develop and move across southern New England. It's hard to say exactly who gets the most rain but there’s potential for more than 5 inches wherever a single band sets up in stalls. So that means we may have impact due to urban and river flooding in addition.

Temperatures are on the cold side and we’re starting off in the 30s with frost Wednesday morning. The clouds will be fairly thick in the 50s.

Much of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine is missing this storm and with a good amount of sunshine, temperatures should get into the 60s. But for most of us in central and southern New England, it remains raw.

We’ll really feel the brunt of the storm Thursday morning to Friday morning. That’s when rain will become torrential at times and we may have continual wind gusts past 50 mph through a few high tide cycles, which will be in the morning and late evening going into the weekend.

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The time to pull out any boats now since the wind is really going to increase Wednesday night. Also, it might be a good time to pull the summer furniture in for the season. You may also want to trade screen doors for storm doors.

We are not the only ones watching a powerful storm; In the northern plains in the Northern Rockies, there is another early-season snow storm, and perhaps a blizzard. Weather systems are moving very slowly and it’s going to take days for each one of these systems to ease.

In between the storms, places like Michigan and Ohio are having a fine stretch of weather. We're hoping that some of that nice weather will be here Saturday, but we’re more confident that Sunday and Monday look good with temperatures getting back into the 60s.

We are deploying a special weather tools like weather warrior and storm ranger, along with the most meteorologists in the market, to stay ahead of the system here in our First Alert 10-Day Forecast.

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