Conditions Heading Downhill Already

Winds are already gusting to 30 mph and Sandy is 450 miles away.  That's telling...

The primary concerns for this storm are damaging winds and coastal flooding.  Rain totals will not be any more than we see during a normal fall storm (1"-3"). But winds will gust higher than they did during Irene.  Widespread outages are likely, similar to the number of outages experienced during Irene.  Ugh. And coastal flooding will not only beat Irene, but some towns could experience record flooding.

Everyone keeps saying "this is a long duration event".  Yes.  Clouds, rain, and breezy conditions will stick around through Thursday or Friday.  But the duration of the most damaging wind gusts to 60+ mph will be from 2 PM-midnight on Monday.

Conditions will go downhill tonight and tomorrow.  Get to wherever you want to be for the night by noon tomorrow. At that time, gusts will already be up to 50 mph for the shoreline, 35 mph inland and increasing.  Peak winds inland could top 60-70 mph, 70-80 mph along the shore. After midnight, winds will decrease quickly.

Here are the forecast tidal departures:
Tonight: 2' - 3' above high tide
Tomorrow morning: (9 am-noon) 3' - 5' above high tide
Tomorrow night: 6'-11' above high tide, near or above record levels!

As I stated in my previous blog post, these numbers are higher than the flooding experienced during Irene!  Also... additional flooding is possible along rivers and tributaries that link up to the Long Island Sound all the way up to I-95.

I wish I had time to write more. Please check out the news at 10 tonight on WCCT and on FOX CT tonight after the game!