Damaging Wind, Flooding Rain Coming

BOSTON (CBS) -- Our impending storm will be strengthening rapidly this afternoon and tonight. Watches and warnings are already out to help you prepare.

Tonight through tomorrow afternoon, the wind and rain will give us several storm threats. The highest impacts will be from the damaging wind and flooding rain.

Wind:

A High Wind Warning is in effect for all of southern New England and portions of northern New England as well from 6 p.m. today to 6 a.m. tomorrow.

We have a couple of wind damage time-frames. Sunday evening/overnight and again Monday.

Sunday evening the wind will be from the east-southeast. Gusts 50-70 mph across the coast, Cape & islands. Outside 128, gusts 35-50 mph due to the friction between the wind & land.   The coastal low pressure system will move north of us Monday, allowing for a wind direction change from southerly to westerly. Gusts then will be 50+ mph on the south coasts, still 35-50 mph elsewhere. Scattered power outages are likely, as well as tree damage. The ground is very saturated so it won't necessarily take a strong gust to topple trees.

Rain:

Heavy rain will spread across New England from west to east Sunday. The axis of showers will remain near and west of the I-95 corridor well into the afternoon. The ribbon of steady rain reaches the coastal plain closer to dusk (after the Patriots game!). Then the rain won't stop until almost dawn with scattered residual showers for a few following hours tomorrow.  There is potential for some lightning and thunder in spots overnight. The projected rain amounts will be lower than the recent storm as the duration of downpours will be reduced to a 6-8 hour window. Isolated 3-4" totals cannot be ruled out under any potential thunderstorms.

Localized flash flooding is likely so the National Weather Service has also issued a flash flood watch from later this afternoon through most of tonight.  Keep in mind that the falling leaves will clog storm drains. Please make sure they are clear of debris-this will lower your chance for street flooding & helps us all out! Small streams will rise quickly but no flooding is projected for most of the rivers in our region.

Timeline:

The timing is consistent with previous weather blog discussions and western Mass is still the area that should get the highest rain total.

Sunday morning the steady rain will stay away from Boston and Foxboro leading up to the Pats game. The southeast to easterly wind will freshen to 15-35 mph by the end of the afternoon and the temperatures will rise up to 63-67.

Rain spreads across the region from west to east. Heaviest rainfall will be in western Mass.

Rain approaches Boston. This particular model run has the rain a little farther west, so take this image with a grain of salt.

Wind has cranked up by evening and the buckets of rain will fall. Torrential downpours Sunday night through Monday morning.

Tropical Storm Philippe

As of 11 a.m. today, Philippe (pronounced as "fee-leep" according to the National Hurricane Center) is centered about 120 miles northeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island, and racing east-northeast at over 30 mph. The cyclone will lose its tropical characteristics later today and it may be captured by the steering currents and absorbed closer to Cape Cod late tonight or early tomorrow morning by the the deepening coastal storm over the Northeast. The rain and wind may be enhanced by this evolution.

The storm exits tomorrow so the scattered morning showers will give way to sunnier conditions during the afternoon. The temperatures will fall from near 62 at 7 a.m. to 55 at 1 p.m. to 48 by 8 p.m.

Coast/Marine:

Ferry service MAY end later this afternoon. Seas will become too dangerous this evening in southern waters. By tomorrow morning, waves heights offshore build to 15-20 feet across all waters east and south of New England.

The high tides are astronomically low, thank goodness! So even with a 1-3 foot surge, worst case scenario is that coastal communities may get some splashover.  High tide is around 7:15 PM today & 7:45 AM tomorrow in eastern and southeastern Massachusetts.  High tide is around 4 PM today and 4 AM tomorrow for southern Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts.