First Impacts Of Weekend's Possible Nor'easter Could Be Felt On LI Wednesday: NWS

NEW YORK — Long Island could start feeling the early impacts of a possible nor'easter in the area as soon as Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

James Tomasini, meteorologist with the NWS office in Upton, said the storm is still being monitored. "We're still several days out," he said.

However, he said, there is now higher confidence in the potential for "multiple cycles of minor to localized coastal flooding during the high tides, beginning tomorrow afternoon and into the weekend."

Southern Nassau County should be the first to see incidents of minor coastal flooding on Wednesday, Tomasini said, with other parts of Long Island following as the high tide cycles continue toward the weekend.

As far as wind and rain impacts, Tomasini said as of right now, it doesn't appear there will be any flash flooding due to rainfall; it's unclear if there will be a need for a wind advisory until closer to Friday and Saturday, he said.

How severely a possible nor'easter will slam the area will be determined by how the storm tracks, he said.

But, Tomasini added, no matter who that evolves, Long Island is expected to see dangerous rip currents along the beaches as well as high surf and beach erosion.

Even if the coastal storm ends up staying to the east of the area, Long Island will "still see several days of prolonged, gusty conditions out of the northeast and coastal impacts. If it trends closer, we will end up with more rain and higher winds," he said.

Meanwhile, soggy skies are in store this week for New York, with the potential nor'easter threatening to bring high winds, flooding and more, according to the latest forecast.

Jay Engle, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told Patch on Monday that while there "is a lot of uncertainty" about the specifics, "we know that there is going to be a storm intensifying off the coast Thursday night or Friday."

That's when the storm will be in the developmental stage and, at this point, it's uncertain how far off the shore the storm will be, or whether it can be pulled back closer to the coast, Engle said.

"There's an another piece of upper level energy that may try to interact with the storm and help pull it back closer to the coast, but there is uncertainty as to the precise timing or how close it will get to the coast," he said.

What could be a nor'easter is expected to slam Long Island late Friday into Saturday, Engle said. "We're not sure what those impacts are going to, but the greatest chance" for those impacts appear to be on the East End, he said.

However, Engle said, those models may shift or change.

Should the nor'easter materialize, Long Island could see 1 to 3 inches of rain and winds of 40 and up to 60 miles per hour, "if the storm comes together," he said, adding that at this point, there is no additional context to provide.

Below-normal temperatures and rain will linger through the week, National Weather Service forecasters said.