Hurricane Conditions possible over Cape Cod Saturday Afternoon
High Wind Warning in Effect for Most of Eastern Massachusetts, Including Lowell
Hurricane Force Wind Warnings in Effect for Coastal Waters off Cape and Islands
Coastal Flood Watches/Advisories In Effect
Forecast wind gusts across New England for tomorrow afternoon. Highest winds will be over the Cape and Islands. Click to enlarge.
Enhanced color satellite imagery showing the colder cloud tops in yellow/red, with the center of Noel showing up as the greenish blue circle in the middle. Click to enlarge. 
Current Noel track showing the track of the center and the radius of maximum winds. Lowell and most of eastern Massachusetts falls at least within tropical storm force winds. Click to enlarge. 
Visible satellite image of Noel as it churns off the US coast. Click to enlarge. 
Enhanced visible satellite image of Noel showing higher cloud tops in white, with lower cloud tops in yellow. Click to enlarge. 
Noel, before deciding to pay us a visit tomorrow, vacationed in the Bahamas, where the storm dropped copious amounts of rain - making driving a bit tough.
Category 1 Hurricane Noel is currently racing up the East Coast while undergoing a transition from a tropical system (warm core, no fronts, small radius of strong winds) to a baroclinic extratropical low (cold core, warm and cold fronts, large radius of strong winds). I know, I know, technical stuff.... so I'll break it down for you.
As Noel loses tropical characteristics, it will grow in size, and it's area of strong winds will expand outwards from the center. This means that although the CENTER of the storm WILL NOT make landfall, the strong winds and heavy rains will extend sufficiently far from the center of the storm to bring us some nasty conditions tomorrow.
Because Noel will no longer be a hurricane by textbook definitions, hurricane warnings have not been issued for our area. This is only a technicality. The Cape and Islands will most likely see strong tropical storm to hurricane conditions tomorrow, with sustained winds of 50-60 mph and gusts possibly as high as 85 mph! Yikes!
Further inland, places like Lowell will see strong winds and heavy rain, although to a lesser extent than coastal areas. Right now, 30-40 mph sustained winds appear likely for our area, with gusts possibly as high as 50 mph.
Because of this, the National Weather Service has issued a HIGH WIND WARNING for most of eastern Massachusetts from 6 am to 9 pm Saturday, including the Lowell area. The message from the NWS is below:
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High Wind Warning URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGENATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
428 PM EDT FRI NOV 2 2007
...DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY SATURDAY ACROSS EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS
AND RHODE ISLAND...
.THE REMNANTS OF HURRICANE NOEL WILL EVOLVE INTO A POWERFUL OCEAN
STORM SATURDAY...AS IT TRACKS SOUTHEAST OF NANTUCKET.
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...FRAMINGHAM...LOWELL...LAWRENCE...
GLOUCESTER...FOXBORO...NORWOOD...CAMBRIDGE...BOSTON...QUINCY...
TAUNTON...BROCKTON...PLYMOUTH...FALL RIVER...NEW BEDFORD...
MATTAPOISETT...FOSTER...SMITHFIELD...PROVIDENCE...
WEST GREENWICH...WARWICK...BRISTOL...NARRAGANSETT...WESTERLY...
NEWPORT...BLOCK ISLAND
...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 9 PM EDT SATURDAY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A HIGH WIND
WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM TO 9 PM EDT SATURDAY. THE
HIGH WIND WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.
DAMAGING NORTH TO NORTHEAST WINDS ARE LIKELY SATURDAY...WITH THE
PERIOD OF STRONGEST WINDS FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH THE AFTERNOON.
THE HIGH WINDS WILL SUBSIDE DURING EARLY SATURDAY EVENING AS WINDS
SHIFT TO THE NORTHWEST.
THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL OCCUR ACROSS SOUTHEAST COASTAL
MASSACHUSETTS FROM MATTAPOISETT TO PLYMOUTH. SUSTAINED WINDS AROUND
40 MPH ARE LIKELY WITH GUSTS UP TO 70 MPH IN THIS REGION DURING THE
PEAK OF THE STORM.
IN THE BOSTON TO PROVIDENCE CORRIDOR...SUSTAINED WINDS WILL INCREASE
TO 30 TO 40 MPH WITH POSSIBLE GUSTS AS HIGH AS 60 MPH SATURDAY
AFTERNOON. THE WINDS WILL BE SOMEWHAT LESS FURTHER INLAND...BUT
DAMAGING WINDS ARE STILL POSSIBLE AS FAR WEST AS WESTERN RHODE ISLAND
AND THE MERRIMACK VALLEY.
A HIGH WIND WARNING IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS OF 40 MPH ARE
EXPECTED FOR AT LEAST AN HOUR...WITH GUSTS OF 58 MPH OR GREATER AT
ANY TIME. DAMAGE TO TREES...POWER LINES...AND PROPERTY ARE POSSIBLE
WITH WIND OF THIS MAGNITUDE. POWER OUTAGES ARE LIKELY. TAKE ACTION
NOW TO SECURE ANY LOOSE OUTDOOR OBJECTS.
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Exciting stuff huh? Well, it is to us meteorologists at least. To sum it up, the effects from Noel include:
The good news - Noel will be racing to the NNE and as a result, we won't feel the effects for all that long. It all looks to be out of here by late Saturday night, with the height of the storm occuring from 11am-4pm.
Thereafter, Noel has his sights set on Canada. The storm will continue to intensify as it races to our north.
We will have additional updates as conditions warrant.
If you haven't yet secured objects outside, do so now!
For WUML 91.5 FM this is student meteorologist and WUML weather director John Webster.
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