While New Yorkers will mostly be spared Hurricane Ernesto’s wrath, the storm is still expected to bring strong and dangerous rip currents to the region this weekend, forecasters warned.
As a precaution, NYC Parks officials are closing beaches across Brooklyn and Queens to swimmers this weekend in anticipation of the storm.
“Life-threatening rip currents are likely through the weekend as Ernesto passes well offshore,” the National Weather Service in New York said Friday morning, warning swimmers to avoid the surf — the area between the shore and the breaking waves.
“Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water,” the agency added, urging anyone trapped in a strong current to avoid panicking and instead swim parallel to the shoreline.
An official high rip current risk for the southern shorelines of Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island is in effect until Sunday night.
Ernesto has been churning across the Atlantic Ocean as a Category 2 storm, with winds of up to 100 miles per hour. It already battered Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power or water earlier this week.
The hurricane is next poised to strike Bermuda on Saturday morning, meteorologists said. From there, it’s forecast to move northeast over Atlantic Canada by late Saturday, causing further life-threatening surf and rip current conditions.
Despite being hundreds of miles away, Ernesto is still expected to ruffle beaches along the East Coast, including those in New York and New Jersey, where waves could reach heights ranging from 5 to 10 feet. The intense tides could cause coastal erosion and flooding near the shoreline and some low-lying areas.
High wind gusts close to 30 mph are also possible in some areas along the Jersey Shore.
Showers and thunderstorms are also likely to hit much of the tri-state area on Sunday and Monday before the sun returns, bringing with it more pleasant summer weather by the end of next week.
Locally heavy rainfall with showers as well as potential thunderstorms are possible Sunday. The greatest chances for rain are Sunday afternoon into Sunday night. Flash flooding may be possible due to the locally heavy rain. #NYwx #NJwx #CTwx pic.twitter.com/bJ4w0NQwwF
— NWS New York NY (@NWSNewYorkNY) August 16, 2024
Ernesto is already the fifth named storm of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, which began on June 1 and runs through the end of November.
In May, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted one of the busiest seasons on record, citing unprecedented ocean temps. The agency forecast between 17 and 25 named storms, with up to seven becoming major hurricanes.
An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, three of them major hurricanes.
Amid the summer’s above-average ocean activity, there have been at least six drowning deaths at New York City public beaches, the highest toll since 2019.
Locals are still reeling from the deaths of two teens who drowned in the surf off Jacob Riis Park in Queens on June 21.
Elyjha Chandler, 16, and Christian Perkins, 17, were in the water near Bay 2 when they were swept under the waves around 6:30 p.m., city officials said. Their bodies were found a week later.
Two other teens — Bronx sisters Zainab Mohammed, 17, and Aisha Mohammed, 18 — died while swimming at Coney Island Beach on July 5.
On July 22, a Washington Heights man, Moises Rodriguez, died in the waters off Rockaway Beach. Cops said his body was found floating close to the shoreline near Beach 96th Street in Queens.
The deaths have prompted local leaders to demand more lifeguards. New York City has struggled with lifeguard shortages for several summers in a row, leaving large swaths of public beaches unguarded.
As of last month, there were about 800 lifeguards on staff — well short of the 1,600 the city estimates it needs to adequately staff all public beaches and pools for the summer season.
A spokesperson for the Parks Department, which employs the city’s lifeguards, did not immediately return a request for comment on whether the agency is taking any particular precautions ahead of this weekend’s expected rip tides.
With News Wire Services
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