New England

Surging Winds, Coastal Storm Headed to New England

Similar to yesterday, today will be a beautiful, sun-filled day with some clouds building in by the afternoon and evening. Highs today stretch into the 60s after a cool start. In anticipation of the evolving coastal storm that will be sliding in by Sunday afternoon / evening, today will be the best day to secure your Halloween decorations, along with any of your porch/yard furniture and trash bins or bring them indoors so they do not blow away in Sunday evening / Monday morning’s damaging gusts that could top near 60 mph. The highest wind gusts will be along the southern coastline of New England, including the Cape & Islands and along the Maine coastline.

At times, southeasterly gusts could reach 50-65 mph with localized stronger gusts possible. Farther inland, gusts could top 40-55 mph, and with most trees still having most of their leaves, downed trees and power lines are likely, so anticipate power outages to occur on and off through Monday. As far as timing, the highest wind gusts will occur overnight Sunday (10PM – 4AM) for southern New England, and then that wind threat shifts north to along the Maine coastline from 4AM – 8AM Monday. Then, we could get a second burst of wind on the backside of the storm by Monday evening in northern New England.

Along with the wind, we’re tracking another round of heavy rainfall, with the heaviest pockets of rainfall likely in the Berkshires and western CT. On top of the all of the rain we’ve received this past week, we could add 1-3” with localized 4-5” in spots.

Why now & why so strong? Well, it’s a coastal system that’s being swept up the eastern seaboard by a powerful cold front that stretches from the Midwest to the Gulf States, so yes, we are tapping into some tropical moisture as these two atmospheric phenomena join forces. For that Monday morning commute, two hands on the wheel as the wind will continue to howl. The wind storm finally wraps up by Monday night.

At the immediate coast, there could be some erosion, but coastal flooding will not be a major concern with this storm as the tides are astronomically low. However, waves will be quite high with 10-15’ at local beaches, farther out at sea 15-20’.

At least this system will clear the region by late Monday into early Tuesday, leaving us slightly cooler for Halloween on Tuesday. Highs Tuesday range from 50s south, to low 50s north. By dusk for those Trick-Or-Treaters, temperatures will slide back into the 40s for most locations. We remain dry and cool midweek before the next chance for rain arrives Thursday afternoon / evening. For next weekend, it’s already that time of the year to turn back the clocks as Daylight Saving Time ends. We’ll have earlier sunsets, but at least we get that extra hour to sleep in next Sunday.

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