Hermine made landfall in Florida last week as a hurricane but was quickly downgraded to a tropical storm before churning across Georgia and the Carolinas.
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The Weather Channel said Hermine is expected to move a bit closer to the coast today and could boost its capacity to generate waves.
Hermine may be taking longer than expected before impacting the North Fork of Long Island, but the National Weather Service is warning that the effects of the storm are still likely to be felt.
The storm is churning up unsafe rip currents locally and all along the U.S. East Coast and storm surges in the Northeast.
A frontal system shifted across the northern tier of the country on Monday, while Post-Tropical Cyclone Hermine stalled out east of the Mid-Atlantic.
Rip current threats were issued for the coastline of NY, even though it appeared to have weakened and tropical storm warnings for the city were cancelled. In general terms that just means a lower-strength event, said Rebecca Gould, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The storm winds and waves should begin to subside on Tuesday.
Hermine’s wind and rain pelted the coast of SC and North Carolina.
The tropical storm warning for New York City and a voluntary evacuation of Fire Island was lifted on Monday.
Hermine is slowly dying off the East Coast, but the storm continues to cause problems ranging from beach erosion to coastal flooding and rip currents. Strong winds and rough surf were enough to force the closure of some beaches on Monday, the US Labour Day holiday.
The waves eroded some of the shore, creating sand dune cliffs where kids climbed.
SURF: The main reason we’re still under a tropical storm warning is due to the unsafe surf conditions. A rougher surf cleared portions of the beachfront.
Masbahul Islam, a pedicab driver who has worked in Atlantic City for six years, said the Labor Day crowd is much smaller than in years past.
As the threat to New Jersey waned, Governor Chris Christie ordered Island Beach State Park reopened for Monday.
Despite being relatively weak compared with other hurricanes – including a category 5 hurricane that hit Florida in 1935 at a speed of 300 kilometres per hour – Hermine caused significant flooding across the four states affected.
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“We are already experiencing more and more flooding due to climate change in every storm”, said Michael Oppenheimer, a geosciences professor at Princeton University.
