Nor'easter's rains, strong winds persist; Hurricane Nolo likely to get stronger

The nor’easter will continue its slow march to the north through Saturday afternoon. By Sunday, it will begin to wobble back and forth just off the East Coast.

That means more rounds of rainfall for the Northeast and New England. The heaviest rain will continue along a stretch from southern New Jersey to northeastern Massachusetts through the afternoon and into the overnight hours. 

Winds will continue to hit the East Coast as well. Expect gusts from 40-55 mph for New York City and Philadelphia, and gusts up to 60 mph for Boston. 

Another high tide is expected tonight after the sun goes down, but this peak isn’t expected to be as substantial. Regardless, a major flood stage is expected for over two dozen stations in the Northeast.

Here's the latest.

As flooding continues, here are a few quick do's and don'ts:

• Do keep a weather emergency kit packed and ready.
• Don't use electricity in a flooded home or leave it on if evacuating — contact with live outlets can cause electrocution or fire.
• Do wear protective gear, like waders, tall rubber boots, or gloves, if you must go out in floodwaters.
• Don't leave valuables or furniture on lower levels — move them upstairs whether or not you evacuate.

Avoid driving through flooded roads — it only takes about a foot of moving water to sweep a car away. Turn around, don't drown.

A flood watch is now active through 2 a.m. Tuesday for Greater Boston, Providence, Worcester and Cape Cod as heavy downpours threaten to cause street and river flooding across the region.

These are currently three hurricanes spinning in the East Pacific: Nolo (we have talked about a lot), Odalys (not a direct threat to land), and Polo. 

Polo has reached wind speeds of 180 mph multiple times in its life cycle as its outer bands hit parts of the Mexico coastline with wind and rain. 

But this storm is expected to bring heavy rainfall to parts of the Southwest next week. The current forecast calls for Polo to steer to the northwest before turning to the east and making landfall on the Baja Peninsula. 

The storm will continue to weaken, but its remnants will move into the U.S.Our models are calling for 1-3 inches of rain to start the upcoming week. 

With soils already saturated from recent monsoon flooding, any additional rain could trigger more flash flooding across the Southwest. 

There are more wind reports coming in across the Northeast and mid-Atlantic from this powerful nor’easter. 

Here are some of the biggest and most notable:

• Surf City, New Jersey: 74 mph 
• Harvey Cedars, New Jersey: 69 mph
• Nantucket, Massachusetts (ACK Airport): 59 mph
• Cape Cod/Wellfleet, Massachusetts: 58 mph 
• NYC/JFK Airport, New York: 56 mph
• Norfolk, Virginia (ORF Airport): 49 mph
• Block Island, Rhode Island (BID Airport): 46 mph
• Ocean City, Maryland: 45 mph 

More will be coming in as the nor’easter continues to pound the East Coast with powerful wind gusts.

After stopping for the last few hours to admire the warm, El Niño charged Pacific Ocean, Hurricane Nolo is going to march to the west Saturday. 

The storm is also expected to continue strengthening, eventually reaching major hurricane strength. 

Nolo will basically move around the island chain, thanks to an area of high pressure north of the islands steering it. But rain, winds and waves are still expected even though the storm isn’t going to make landfall. 

As the stalled nor'easter continues to push water onshore, coastal flood alerts may escalate over the next several tide cycles. Here's what each level means:

Advisory: Minor flooding is occurring — enough to flood low-lying roads and properties near the coast. Use caution if traveling in these areas.

Watch: Moderate to major flooding is possible and could pose a serious risk to life and property. If you're in a flood-prone coastal area, now is the time to prepare and know your evacuation routes.

Warning: Moderate to major flooding is occurring and poses a serious threat to life and property. Follow evacuation orders immediately and avoid flooded roads.

Because this system is stalled rather than moving through, repeated high tides — not storm strength — are what could push some areas from advisory to warning over the coming days.

The stars, or should I say the moon, is aligning with a powerful nor’easter bringing major coastal flooding. 

The moon has an impact on the tides, and when we are in a full moon — like today — it only makes the tides worse. 

Add onto this a nor’easter with the National Weather Service calling for 2-4 feet of coastal inundation, we have compounding effects. 

Beach erosion is ongoing and coastal communities are being impacted by tidal inundation.

The Hawaii State Department of Health shared a few safety notices as locals feel the effects of Hurricane Nolo.

• Prepare for loss of power by stocking up on shelf-stable food and make sure medical devices are charged. Prepare back up power sources and batteries.
• If you do lose power, keep refrigerator and freezer doors closed to help food stay safe longer. Throw out anything that goes bad. 
• Stay out of floodwater. Moving water can be stronger than it looks, and it can carry debris, sewage and other contaminants that can make you sick.
• Check your medications before the storm arrives to refill critical prescriptions.
• Take care of your family, friends and neighbors. It’s normal for storms to make people anxious — caring for your mental health is important during this time.

The coastal flooding and inundation of sea water is so intense that people are kayaking to the train station in Queens. Check out the video below. 

The latest from flightaware shows that Boston’s Logan Airport has nearly 250 flights canceled into and out on Saturday. 

The city is under a high wind warning until Sunday, where gusts up to 60 mph are possible. 

The city is also under a high surf advisory, where large waves up to 13 feet are possible in the break zone. Boston is also under a coastal flood warning, where tidal inundation up to one foot above normal could erode beaches and bring damage to residents along the coastline.

North Carolina Highway 12 along the Outer Banks remains closed. The roads are covered in feet of water and deep sand from coastal inundation from the nor’easter. 

Even though conditions are improving in the Carolinas, it will take time for this roadway to be passable.

I know you have all seen the giant “L” on maps showing the nor’easter we're watching. 

But, if you have been wondering what all those lines are on our maps that surround areas of low pressures, I have you covered. These lines are called isobars. The line itself represents a certain pressure, so anywhere you see that line, you are seeing the same pressure. Each line you see is a different pressure, but all points along that line have equal pressure. 

So, why are there so many of these lines around the nor’easter that have closed off to form a bunch of circles? It means that the pressure is rapidly dropping as you move to the center of the storm. When the pressure drops rapidly around a nor’easter, that means it is stronger. And the stronger the nor’easter you have, the more powerful the winds can be.

I’ve got some good news and some bad news for those of you in Hawaii. 

The good news: Nolo stopped its north trek a little earlier than expected. That means the worst of the wind and some of the rain will look to stay offshore for now. 

The bad news: Outer bands of the hurricane are still hitting the Big Island, bringing rounds of rain and wind gusts from 39 to 73 mph. Rainfall totals over 3 inches have occurred in the last 12 hours. Flooding remains a concern, especially for elevated terrain. 

With this massive nor’easter looming large, the skies put on a stunning show in New York City on Friday evening.

I mean, just look at this sunset and rainbow above the Manhattan skyline. That's tough to beat.

When people hear the term nor’easter, they usually think of gusty winds, coastal flooding and heavy snow causing a winter wonderland for the major cities of the Northeast. 

But the definition of nor’easter is actually very straightforward and doesn’t actually have to do with snow. A nor’easter is when a low pressure system forms off the East Coast and brings winds in from the northeast. So this actually can happen any time in the year since that definition is pretty broad.

This one is happening earlier than the usual nor’easters, so snow is out of the question. After all, Boston’s first snowfall on average is in late November, and New York City’s is in December. 

For more on nor’easters, we have you covered here.

Nearly 80,000 customers are already without power across the Northeast as strong wind gusts from the nor’easter bring down trees and power lines. 

Outage totals will continue to change throughout the day so check this live outage map for the latest numbers in your area.

Keep phones charged, have flashlights ready and be prepared for prolonged outages.

We’re just about at another high tide, and this one is expected to bring the highest water levels of the nor’easter from the Jersey Shore to North Carolina’s northern Outer Banks. 

The National Weather Service is expecting major coastal flooding this morning in the Virginia Tidewater, as well as Delaware, Ocean City and Atlantic City, among other locations. 

Compounding this is today’s full moon, meaning these are the highest astronomical tides of the month. 

Baseball fans: The nor’easter is switching things up.

The Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs played a doubleheader Friday to get ahead of the incoming storm, which is bringing heavy rain.

Major League Baseball has also relocated the final game of the series because of the forecast for bad weather in the Boston area. Now, their Sunday afternoon game will be played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The rainfall threat is expected to really ramp up today all along the East Coast. And the threat can remain until the start of the upcoming work week. 

Heavy rainfall expected over Saturday and Sunday, with the Weather Prediction Center issuing two days of level 2 of 4 threats for excessive rainfall.

This rainfall will not actually fall all at once but will be a slow soaking. Rainfall rates of 1-3 inches are expected Saturday and Sunday across cities like New York City and Boston, with some heavy rain lingering for Boston on Monday. It would not be out of the question for some of these areas to see 6+ inches of rainfall from this nor’easter.

Here's the latest forecast.

Winds continue to push water against the East Coast. And as we approach high tide across the Northeast, over 25 river gauges are expected to reach major flood stage, with another 24 reaching moderate flood stage and another 30 reaching minor flood stage.

There are over 20 million people under coastal flood warnings from Virginia to New Jersey, where 2 to 3 feet of inundation above normal levels is expected. Numerous coastal highways could remain closed, and homes in coastal communities could be flooded by seawater.