First the "good" news. Hurricane Earl has weakened, to a Category 1 storm with max. sustained winds at 85 mph. It will continue to weaken as it moves fast into cooler waters. The tropical storm watch for areas around the western Long Island Sound is now discontinued.

BUT.......... Earl is still more than 400 miles wide. This is a very large storm. Let's not let down our guard, for now. Eastern Long Island is still a concern, with beach erosion and flooding concerns.

I'll have more updates live on wpix.com this afternoon.

Yours in weather,
Chris Knowles

We already knew that this Summer was the hottest on record for Central Park. Previously, the hottest Summer was in 1966. The average that year was 77.3 degrees. We did 77.8 this year. While Summer from a meteorologist stand point ends at September, our weather isn't conforming.

Today (sept 8) we reached an afternoon high of 90 degrees. That is the 37th day this year that we have hit 90 or above. The average number of 90 degree days is 15. The all-time record is 39.

We're also dry from a climate point of view. Since June first, we've received nearly 9 inches of rain. However, the average is closer to 14 inches. That's at Central Park. At Laguardia airport, it's even worse. They've only received about half of their usual rainfall for the Summer.

Now get this. For the year, Central Park is almost exactly average. Huh? Remember rain is only one form of precipitation. Anyone remember all the snow? That is the difference maker.

Yours in weather,
Chris Knowles

As I type this, we are fine tuning our 5 day forecast for the 10pm show. And for the first time in a very long time, we are NOT forecasting a single 80 degree day.

We are transitioning into a period of Fall-like weather patterns. This transitional state is a sometimes difficult one to forecast. The sophisticated computer models we use to provide you with the most up to date and accurate forecasts have a tough time dealing with changes in weather patterns. We rely heavily on our own pattern recognition. For example, we know how fronts and air masses move this time of year, and how the jetstream operates.

Right now, there's an area of low pressure (spinning counter clockwise) in New England that's helping to pull cooler air down from Canada. Several shortwaves or impulses will rotate out of this, keeping clouds in the area. We look to warm up Saturday, but again, not seeing any heat waves any time soon.

Yours in Weather,
Chris Knowles

This is the question on everyone's minds as we get more and more pictures in of devastation. Staten Island. Brooklyn. Queens. So many of our great neighborhoods with damaged homes, destroyed businesses and blocked roads.

But does it even matter?

Straight-line winds could've been the culprit. This from a very fine weather website called theweatherprediction.com :

Straight-line wind damage will push debris in the same direction the wind is blowing (hence the creation of the term straight-line). Tornado damage will scatter the debris in a variety of different directions since the winds of a tornado are rotating violently. This type of survey can be used to determine if straight-line wind occurred instead of a tornado or vice versa. Straight-line wind intensity can be as powerful as a tornado.

My point is this: There are so many of our friends and neighbors will major problems on their hands from a devasting storm. Insurance, (if purchased and up to date) only covers so much. There are people in need. My opinion? It's more important to find out how we can help, rather than dwell on whether the winds circulated or not.

Yours in weather,
Chris Knowles