High Surf Warnings In Rhode Island As Hurricane Dorian Approaches

Hurricane Dorian is barreling towards Southern New England on Friday. While it's expected to stay well off the coast, Dorian is forecast to move past as a Category 1 storm, potentially reaching far enough to whip up tropical storm-level wind gusts on the Cape and Islands and dump several inches of rain across parts of Southern New England.

Here in Rhode Island, the impacts are expected to be far less. The National Weather Service has issued a high surf advisory from 4 p.m. on Friday until 6 p.m. on Saturday. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management encourages storm watchers and anglers to stay far away from the shore or anywhere a wave can break over, as strong currents can quickly become deadly, dragging a person into the water.

Scattered showers are possible throughout the state later Friday afternoon, mostly after 4 p.m. More rain and patchy fog will come during the overnight hours, leading into periods of rain throughout the morning and early afternoon on Saturday.

Strong wind gusts will also hit Rhode Island Friday into Saturday, with gusts as high as 31 miles per hour during the overnight hours and gusts up to 34 miles per hour on Saturday. Power outages are possible.

You can see the simulated timeline of the storm via the National Weather Service below.

Dorian made landfall in the US for the first time Friday morning, battering Cape Hatteras, NC, with 90-mph winds. It plunged some quarter of a million people in North and South Carolina into darkness overnight and is being blamed for the death of at least one person there. There have been at least five storm-related deaths reported since Dorian got to just outside Florida.

As a Category 5 hurricane, Dorian caused at least 30 deaths in the Bahamas, with hundreds more missing.