Rain, high winds forecast for weekend on Long Island

Saturday, the first full day of fall, starts on a wet and windy note.

The rain and high winds forecast for this weekend, are the effects of Tropical Storm Ophelia, a now-named storm that was a low-pressure system brewing off the coast of the Carolinas. The wet weather will arrive in Long Island around daybreak Saturday, said Dominic Ramunni, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Upton.

That is when a band of rain slowly pushing north will move into the region bringing with it steady rain expected to fall throughout Saturday morning and afternoon across the Long Island.

“When all is said and done, two to three inches of rain will fall throughout the weekend,” Ramunni said. “Once the main push of rain comes through Saturday I think we’ll start to see more intermittent showers overnight Saturday night and throughout the day Sunday.”

He said flash flooding isn’t a huge concern. There could be isolated areas of flash flooding but more likely nuisance flooding, such as ponding in poor drainage areas.

There will also be an increase in wind, with the peak of the winds happening Saturday morning throughout the day before decreasing later in the evening, he said.

Along the coastline gusts between 35 and 45 mph are expected with gusts reaching 25 to 35 mph in the interior of Long Island. The winds should subside Saturday night, but Sunday could still see gusts of up to 25 to 30 mph.

There is a potential for some minor coastal flooding of a foot to a foot and a half above ground level at vulnerable areas around Long Island for Saturday’s afternoon and evening high tide cycle, Ramunni said.

There is a high surf advisory for Long Island that faces the Atlantic Ocean, with surf heights of as much as 6 to 10 feet Saturday through Sunday morning.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Friday that in response to the storm forecast Long Island Rail Road crews would be pre-positioned around the system ready to respond to any weather-related issues. 

“It will just be a wet, windy raw weekend for many with temperature struggling to get out of the 50s,” Ramunni said. “I think we’ll be sitting in the lower 60s through much of the weekend, getting that fall feel.”