PROVIDENCE – Hurricane Humberto will kick up the surf and potentially trigger rip currents at Rhode Island beaches later this week, according to the National Weather Service.
“A period of gusty coastal winds will develop around midweek as Hurricane Humberto makes its closest approach, and high surf and dangerous rip currents will impact the beaches,” the weather service says.
Increasing swell from Humberto will begin to arrive over the southern waters late Monday night, Sept. 29, into Tuesday, Sept. 30, the weather service says in its forecast discussion.
Will high seas and big waves interrupt the Block Island Ferry and other boat traffic?
Hurricane Humberto will kick up surf off Southern New England later this week, although it will stay far out to sea.
The seas could get high enough to affect travel over the water. In August, Hurricane Erin passed well out to sea but delivered rough seas to Southern New England, prompting the cancellation of some Block Island Ferry trips.
Small craft advisory conditions are expected with seas building to 5 to 7 feet on Tuesday, the weather service says. Increasing northeast winds will develop Tuesday afternoon with gusts of 20 to 25 knots possible, especially over southern waters, the weather service says.
The rough seas will continue for several days. Expect seas of up to 11 feet on Wednesday, building up to 12 feet, with gusts up to 35 knots. Expect seas of up to 12 feet on Thursday with wind gusts again up to 35 knots. Wind gusts should drop below 25 knots on Friday, but rough seas will continue.
At 8 a.m. Monday, Humberto was in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean about 900 miles east of Florida. It had maximum sustained winds near 145 miles per hour and was moving northwest at about 14 mph.
“A gradual turn towards the north is expected over the next day or so. The hurricane is then forecast to turn and accelerate east-northeastward by late Tuesday or early Wednesday,” the National Hurricane Center said.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Weather: What to know about Hurricane Humberto