A powerful ocean storm continues to strengthen out at sea. The blocking weather pattern will actually allow this storm to meander west towards New England.
The center of the storm remains offshore, but it will bring in waves of rain, damaging wind gusts and rough seas towards the coastline.
Farther inland, this storm will produce gusty winds and waves of heavy rain. We will feel the effect of this storm today, through Saturday morning.
The height of the storm on the coast will be Friday, so that is when we have a First Alert.
RAIN:
The showers spread in from the northeast and move farther inland overnight into Friday morning. Periods of heavier rainfall will move through during the steady rainfall. The rain remains heavy through Friday night, tapering off from northeast to southwest Saturday morning for all of New England. Rainfall will be around half an inch across inland locations, while the coast could see 1-2 inches and isolated spots across the Cape and the islands could see over 2 inches.
WIND:
The wind gusts gradually increase tonight, with the highest gusts across the coast Friday morning through evening. Wind direction will be from the north this evening, switching to the northeast overnight. Most of New England will have gusts between 20 and 30 mph. Gusts of 30-40 mph will be possible along the coast. Cape Ann, Cape Cod and the islands may will see gusts around 50 mph with isolated peak wind speeds pushing 60 mph.
COASTAL FLOODING:
The highest waves will be coinciding with Friday morning's high tide. Flooding may occur 2 hours before to 2 hours after high tide for low lying areas and coastal roads. Wave heights will be 15-25 feet offshore and will bring in a surge of 1-3 feet for coastal towns, Nantucket being in the higher end of the surge. Minor coastal flooding is expected for Friday morning, Nantucket may see moderate flooding. Friday evening high tide levels will be a tad lower but we will see splashover. Saturday morning wave heights decrease a bit, but there may be some pockets of splashover again.
10-DAY OUTLOOK:
Our weekend brings much-needed improvement to our forecast. Saturday begins rainy and breezy, but by afternoon the sun breaks out and highs reach the 50s away from the coast. Highs on Sunday will near 60 degrees with a light breeze and partly cloudy skies. Monday may be our pick of the week with highs in the low 60s and more sun than clouds before a system brings in scattered rain by midweek.
