Stormy Saturday: Hurricane Force Wind Gusts Likely

There it is. This storm is going to be a ramped up Nor'easter for eastern SNE. And I want to stress that eastern SNE will see all the action. The area in the light blue is where most of the action will happen, but if I did this graphic, I wold put the Cape and Islands in a red color. Here wind gusts may exceed 85-90mph at the peak of the storm. The extratropical Noel will pass just about 100 miles SE of Nantucket, so that is why the Cape will see such damaging conditions. There may likely be some power outages due to downed branches and trees down on the Cape. It will get that bad. Off the coast of the Cape, there is a Hurricane Force Wind Advisory, meaning that there will likely be wind gusts exceeding 75mph much of the time. No doubt this will cause the seas to really build. Off the coast, seas will build up to 40 feet, so shippers should be aware and stay in port to let this one go by. Its not worth it. At the coast, there will be a surfer's delight, with waves at the shore approaching 22-28 feet high. It will undoubtedly cause a surge, but we are in between the new moon and full, so astronomical high tide will be low, so we will only see a storm surge of 1-2 feet.

Here is a breakdown.

WIND:

Cape..........Peak sustained at 40-55mph; gusts to 85+

Boston.......Peak sustained 30-45mph; gusts to 65+

Worcester.......Peak sustained 15-25mph; gusts to 35+

RAIN

Cape...........Extremely Heavy, Flooding Likely; 4-8"

Boston.........Heavy, Flooding Possible; 2-4"

Worcester.........Light to Moderate at times; Less than 1"

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So as you can see, the Cape and southeastern Massachusetts will see much of the action tomorrow. If you are in Vermont this weekend, tomorrow will be a nice day with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the 50's. In eastern SNE, highs will only make it into the low-mid 40's with wind chills likely in the upper 30's. Sunday will be much better with everything clearing out and highs getting back into the mid and upper 50's. It will be a good day to clean all the debris out of our yards. Down the Cape, you may have more work to do than the rest of us.

Be safe tomorrow and don't be stupid and go surfing with 85mph winds. I suggest everyone from Boston on SE just stay home and watch the storm from the window. It will be much safer that way. This storm has already killed over 20 people, so be careful.