How to Prepare for Hurricane Henri

August 20, 2021 By Meteorologist Michael Page (NASA photo on Unsplash)

New England hasn't seen a hurricane make landfall in 30 years, since Hurricane Bob did in 1991.

This week, on the anniversary of that storm, New England faces a new hurricane threat from Henri.

As of Friday morning, Henri is located near Bermuda. It's a tropical storm, but will likely become a hurricane as it moves northward over the warm Gulf Stream waters.

The exact track of the storm still needs to be worked out, but a landfall is increasingly likely somewhere from Long Island to Cape Cod as the storm moves up from the south.

For Hingham, Cohasset, and the rest of the South Shore this means we would see impacts Sunday, and potentially into early Monday.

Whether the storm makes landfall as a strong tropical storm, or a category 1 hurricane, the impacts are likely to be similar.

Fortunately for us, with the storm coming from the south, the most significant impacts are likely to be on the South Coast, Cape, and Islands.

Still, Hingham and Cohasset will likely see wind gusts 40-60 MPH, which is enough to create power outages. Gusts 60-100 MPH are likely farther south, for the South Coast, Cape, and Islands.

Now is the time to ensure you have batteries on hand, in case the electricity does go out. It's also a good idea to check your generator, if that is an option.

If your boat is moored in a particularly vulnerable area that is exposed to open water, as opposed to a protected bay or cove, you also may want to consider pulling it out of the water today or Saturday. 

Tides are also astronomically high this weekend, so combined with the strong wind and big waves areas of moderate coastal flooding are also likely.

A period of tropical downpours is also likely, but beyond some big puddles on area roads, this is unlikely to be a big issue for our area.

Check back for continuing storm coverage and updates as we get into the weekend.