More Earl!

Early this morning Earl gained strength...he's now up to 145mph making him a solid category 4 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Also early this morning Tropical Storm Warnings were issued for Suffolk, Ocean, and Monmouth counties. Along coastal communites in these counties you can expect Tropical Storm force winds (39mph) to occur. The rest of our coastal communities are under a Tropical Storm Watch which means there is the potential for Tropical Storm force winds (39mph).

We think the main problem with this storm will be the wind and not the rain. The wind will push tides above normal, which could flood some low lying areas. The seas will pose the biggest problem since this is storm is coming at the begining of a holiday weekend and there will be tons of sun on both Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Even after the storm passes it takes a while for the ocean to calm down. At the onset of the storm the seas will be between 9 and 10 feet tonight. By Friday night the seas will peak at 15 feet. Here's the big problem the seas on Saturday will still run around 9 feet and on Sunday they'll run around 5 to 7 feet. So be careful with those beach plans.

We will keep you posted on the storm but that's what all of the latest models are showing. These storms can be fickle though!

Joe Punday and Linda Church