NEW YORK — The weakened remnants of Nicole reached the New York area later Friday, a day after the storm made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, the third such system this November in the Atlantic basin. .
Weather is expected to worsen, which could bring gusts of up to 50 mph along the coasts and gusts of up to 45 mph inland along with torrential rain. Widespread rainfall of 1 to 2 inches is expected, although locally higher amounts of up to 3 inches are possible. Tornadoes are also not out of the question, and neither are flash floods or wind damage.
Nicole was downgraded to a tropical depression Thursday night, but her remnants combine with an approaching front on Friday to complicate matters. The combo brings showers to New York City at noon before the rain and winds intensify. Expect torrential downpours at times Friday through Saturday morning across the tri-state.
It won’t be continuous until Saturday morning, but when the rain does fall, it’s likely to be heavy at times. Damaging wind gusts are possible throughout the area, especially Friday afternoon through Friday night. Places that see those strong winds may also be more likely to see isolated severe weather. The worst weather moves in for early Saturday morning.
The city activated its emergency flash flood plan before the storm hit, requiring multiple agencies to fan out across all five boroughs to inspect (and clean, if necessary) sinkholes in hundreds of flood-prone locations. Some areas in New Jersey were seen cleaning up similar basins on the Thursday before the storm.
This work is already underway, and all New Yorkers are encouraged to take the same simple step of debris cleanup to help prevent flooding. You can also call 311 if you want the city to take care of it.
Once Nicole, and that unrelated front, pass through the tri-state area, cooler air will dip and highs will struggle to reach 50 degrees from Sunday into next week. It’s November, after all, so get those winter coats ready (if they aren’t already).
The storm was expected to dump up to 8 inches of rain on parts of the Florida panhandle as it pummeled the Ian-ravaged state with dangerous waves and storm surge, along with intense rain and winds, according to the National Hurricane Center. The NHC downgraded Nicole to a tropical storm early Thursday, with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph. Most sustained winds had further subsided by Thursday night.
The Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and ends on November 30.
Pedro Montoro with a weather update.