Saturday Nor'easter, Coastal Flooding Concerns

You'd think that a tornado crossing the Cape Cod Canal would be the damage-doer of the week, but you'd be wrong.

A powerful Nor'easter, infused with the remains of former Hurricane Willa, will hit us on Saturday. She will bring soaking rain, high winds and damaging surf.

The storm should arrive early Saturday. The worst of the rain will be Saturday morning. We should get an inch or two. The afternoon should be less rainy, but precipitation is possible into Sunday.

If you head way inland and north, you may even see a bit of snow.

Winds will be E/NE, and clock in around 20 mph with gusts along the coast up to 50 mph.

That wind, blowing all day, will amp up the surf. It should produce a 1-2 foot surge on top of a waning full moon tide.  That will send powerful surf at vulnerable coastlines.

We'll be watching Duxbury Beach, and perhaps will embed a photographer there. He'll have to sneak by Johnny Law, but that's nothing new to this publication.

Duxbury just decided to ignore seawall repairs until FEMA funding comes in, which may take a year. Saturday will be a very good test of whether this policy is brilliant or reckless. As Napoleon once said, "From the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step."

They stand a real chance of seeing waves equal to the March storms. Seas will be at 10-12 feet not too far off of South Shore beaches, and up near 20 feet off the Outer Cape. Waves hitting the shore will be about half of that.

The worst tide should Saturday afternoon, but the waves could still be menacing on Sunday. It looks to be a 3 tide storm.

This storm should bring an immediate end to the SE Massachusetts fall foliage season. We'll have our people out Thursday and Friday to get some pics before that happens.

We're a few days out, and the forecast could change. We will be back with an update.