Strong, gusty winds are a trademark of any nor’easter, and Thursday’s rainy storm system is packing a blustery punch with gusts topping 51 miles per hour. Those areas at highest risk of seeing the strongest gusts are along the coast, specifically the North and South Shores, Cape Cod and the islands.
Winds are whipping up quickly as the core of the storm slides parallel to New England’s coast this afternoon and evening. The strongest winds will be along the Outer Cape with a few gusts that could soar above 50 miles an hour as they did in Nantucket, which recorded 51 mile-an-hour gusts this afternoon. The North and South Shores could see wind gusts to the 40s, and the same goes for other coastal areas, such as Fall River, New Bedford, and Newport, R.I.
Coastal New Hampshire and Maine may also see gusts between 40 and 50 miles per hour later Thursday evening.
The strongest window for wind gusts is this afternoon until around 10 p.m. as the brunt of the storm hits the coast, with the northern side slinging in a strong onshore flow. The high tide in Boston Harbor is at 7:51 p.m., where a forecast of 12.20 feet will sit just below the minor flood state threshold of 12.50 feet.
Coastal inundation
The onshore flow will also pose a risk for coastal inundation where low-lying areas along the shores from Rhode Island to Southern Maine are seeing flooding with waves crashing over the barrier walls.
Up to 6 inches of flooding inundation is possible along the shore into the evening hours. There could be quite a few splash-over waves depending on how strong the wind gusts are around high tide tonight.
Advertisement
Most of the coastal alerts for Thursday evening are centered around high tide, where splash-over from strong onshore winds can lead to localized flooding.
Ken Mahan can be reached at ken.mahan@globe.com. Follow him on Instagram @kenmahantheweatherman.