A Hard Southerly Blow Coming Tonight!

Batten down your hatches, East-Enders, we've got a blow coming through tonight that's notable for a couple of reasons! Here's the National Weather Service forecast for Montauk:

Showers, with thunderstorms also possible after midnight. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Patchy fog before midnight. Low around 48. Windy, with a south wind 23 to 33 mph, with gusts as high as 60 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible.

Now here's the Coastal Waters Forecast for Montauk Point to Moriches Inlet:

S winds 25 to 30 kt with gusts up to 50 kt...increasing to 35 to 40 kt with gusts up to 55 kt late. Seas 8 to 11 ft... Building to 15 to 19 ft. Showers...mainly after midnight. Areas of fog in the evening. Vsby 1 to 3 nm. 

The first thing that jumps out is the wind speed -- sustained winds to 33mpg wtih gusts to 60mph! Yow! If this were a summer storm, it would probably have a name, with the attendant media circus. But instead this is just another one of the no-name tropical-storm-strength winter weather events that are part of life on the East End.

The other notable thing is the direction -- South! Nor'easter is the weather watch-word for the winter and it's not too often that we get a wind blowing that hard out of the south. I'll be down at MON TIKI making double sure that her lines are arranged to stand a sustained, strong southerly blow. 

So wherever you are, batten down your hatches, check your lines, and make ready for a windy, rainy night! At least with a southerly wind it won't be cold!

- David Ryan, owner of Sailing Montauk