As of 8am this morning Hurricane Sandy was about 300 miles south-southeast of our area and has started to turn northwest toward the New Jersey coast, maximum sustained winds are at 85 MPH with higher gusts. Little or no rain has fallen in Northern New Jersey but South Jersey very heavy rain has already occurred with over three inches reported in Cape May. Top winds so far in our area have ranged 30-35 MPH in gusts while the highest gusts in New Jersey was 50 MPH on Long Beach Island. Conditions will worsen this afternoon and especially this evening as gusts up 80 MPH are quite possible here. The rain in our part of the state will not be all that bad compared to Irene with rainfall totals around 3 inches, so inland flooding should not be much of an issue.. Coastal flooding is already occurring along the New Jersey coast and will get much worse especially the northern New Jersey coast and New York Harbor where record levels are likely with devastating results. As I posted yesterday New York subways may be out of service for up to two weeks. Again in our area the story will be the wind with frequent hurricane gusts later today and tonight causing massive power outages. By Tuesday morning after the storm moves onshore winds will slowly diminish but still gusting to 50 MPH, the rain will taper off to showers and continue through the day and night. Winds will lower further Tuesday night only gusting to 25 MPH at times. By Wednesday conditions will be much quieter with lighter winds and only some scattered showers. Mainly dry later this week into the weekend with seasonable temperatures with highs in the mid 50s and lows in the low to mid 40s..

The forecast: Today – Rain which will be heavy at times, winds gusting to 65 MPH by this afternoon, high near 60.
Tonight – Rain heavy at times, dangerous hurricane wind gusts to 75 MPH, low in the mid 50s.
Tuesday – Rain tapering off to showers by the afternoon – may have some sunshine in the afternoon, high in the low 60s, winds gust to 55 MPH in the morning slowly diminishing in the afternoon.
Tuesday night – mostly cloudy with further diminishing winds chance of a shower, low near 50.
Wednesday – Cloudy with a chance of a shower, wind gusts to 25 MPH, high in the upper 50s.
Thursday – Mostly cloudy, high in the mid 50s.
Friday – Partly sunny – high in the mid 50s.
Weekend – Mostly sunny, highs again in the mid 50s.

Marine Forecast: Today and Tuesday – Hurricane wind warning – northeast wind becoming southerly gusting to 75 knots, seas up to 30 feet.
Outlook: Small craft advisories will probably be needed through Friday.

Everyone please try to have a good day and stay safe!!!