A nor’easter is expected to bring heavy rains, coastal flooding and strong wind gusts that may down utility wires, causing potential power outages on Long Island this weekend, forecasts say.
Rain is likely to begin falling between 9 p.m. and midnight Friday. The weather will intensify with thunderstorms, downpours and up to 50-mph wind gusts Saturday afternoon before clearing the area overnight into Sunday. The most vulnerable areas to coastal flooding will be along the South Shore of Nassau and western Suffolk counties.
“A coastal storm will likely produce storm surge capable of causing moderate coastal flooding with the high tide cycle late Saturday morning into early Saturday afternoon,” Upton-based National Weather Service meteorologists said Thursday in a hazardous weather outlook.
The storm is forecast to impact much of the New York Metro area. It comes as the region marks the sixth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy on Sunday.
“The combination of heavy rainfall and leaf clogged drainages will pose a threat for flash flooding,” NWS said in a flash flood watch. “In addition, rising tides Saturday morning pose an enhanced threat for flash flooding across low lying portions of coastal communities.”
The area is also under a coastal flood advisory.
“Widespread flooding of vulnerable areas near the waterfront and shoreline is expected during the times of high tide Saturday morning into Saturday afternoon, resulting in 2 to 2 1/2 feet, locally 3 feet, of inundation above ground level in low lying, vulnerable areas,” the agency said in the coastal flood advisory.
The oceanfront of Long Island is also under a high surf advisory, where higher-than-normal waves are expected to cause beach erosion and dune washovers. That’s in addition to a wind advisory for most of LI and a high-wind warning for the East End, where wind gusts up to 60 mph are possible.
Once the storm passes, Sunday is forecast as partly sunny with temperatures reaching a high near 57, although there is another slight chance of rain overnight into Monday.
The partly sunny forecast persists for the first half of the week. But the forecast for Halloween on Wednesday is mostly sunny with temps reaching a high near 52.
