The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane watch for Long Island, Block Island, and surrounding coastal areas of southern New England.
Tropical Storm Henri is expected to strengthen Saturday to hurricane force and begin affecting eastern Long Island late Saturday or early Sunday. Its projected path would put the center of the hurricane just east of Montauk Point at 2 p.m. Sunday. Storm surges of two to four feet on Long Island are likely and from three to five feet from Narragansett Bay to Cape Cod Bay.
Henri is also forecast to widen as it reaches Long Island as a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 70 miles per hour and higher gusts, extending from Newark, N.J., to Portland, Me., and inland to Springfield, Mass.
Southeast winds are anticipated to reach near 30 miles per hour early Sunday, shifting to the north and then northwest and increasing to hurricane strength in the afternoon. Tropical storm conditions remain possible on Monday, according to the National Weather Service. Rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches are expected.
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This story has been updated to correct the alert status of the storm at the time of publication.
