This Morning’s Bulletin — 10.2.15

Good Morning!

• While it appears that Hurricane Joaquin is becoming more and more likely to veer out to sea, the weather we’re expecting over the next couple days isn’t too pretty either. We’ll be under a coastal flood advisory from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, a coastal flood watch through 6 p.m. Saturday, and a high surf advisory through 6 p.m. Saturday. We are expecting tides one to two feet above normal today and one-and-a-half to three feet above normal on Saturday. We’re expecting winds in at least the mid 20s, with gusts approaching 40 miles per hour, through Saturday evening. The high temperature today will be near 56 degrees and the high temperature Saturday will be near 58 degrees.

• The National Hurricane Center guidance on Joaquin as of 5 a.m. Friday is “the forecast models continue to indicate a track offshore of the United States east coast from the Carolinas to the mid-Atlantic states, and the threat of direct impacts from Joaquin in those areas is decreasing. However, there is still uncertainty in how close Joaquin could come to Bermuda, extreme southeastern New England/Cape Cod, and Nova Scotia during the next several days, and interests in those areas should continue to monitor the progress of the hurricane. A Tropical Storm or Hurricane Watch could be required for Bermuda later today.” We’ll provide updates as they become available.

• Saturday morning’s Whitebread Race around Shelter Island has been cancelled, due to the forecast of high seas and heavy winds during the time of the race. According to race organizers, many of the boats that enter the race have to travel quite some distance with their boats, and “waiting until the last minute on Saturday morning to decide on whether to cancel or not would force these boats to go out into what are likely to be dangerous conditions, hoping their efforts would not be in vain.”  The organizers added that “the sea state together with the wind speed will combine to make racing exceedingly dangerous…. The Whitebread is not equipped to provide rescue vessels along the course and thus it is quite likely there will be no boat available to assist distressed vessels and their crews.” They have not, however, cancelled the after party at Cutchogue Harbor Marina scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday. More information is online here.

• Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter announced at Thursday’s town board work session that a firm called Luminati Aerospace had purchased Skydive Long Island, and plans to “make very, very large solar-powered drones that fly in the atmosphere at about 60,000 feet.” The Beacon’s full story is online here.

• Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter has proposed a tax levy increase of 5.06 percent for 2016, which he says will allow the town to prepare structurally balanced budgets going forward, though it does pierce the state tax cap and will cost the average taxpayer $7.50 more per month. The Beacon’s full story is online here.

• Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell proposed a $42.9 million budget Wednesday, a roughly $300,000 reduction in spending from this year. The Beacon’s full story is online here.

• North Fork Audubon is hosting a back-to-back program tonight on identifying hawks in flight. Hawk enthusiast Pat Hanly will give a talk on identifying hawks at the Red House at Inlet Pond County Park in Greenport tonight at 7:30 p.m. An early-morning field trip Saturday to Dune Road in Hampton Bays to look for hawks has been cancelled due to inclement weather. More information is online here.

• The Bay View Pines Civic Association is hosting a debate for all of the candidates for Southampton Town political office at the David W. Crohan Center in Flanders tonight, Oct. 2, from 7 to 9 p.m. More information is online here.

• On Oct. 3 at 3 p.m., CCOM will host its annual Topical Forum at the Montauk Firehouse. This year’s forum will explore cleaning up Montauk’s polluted water ways, protecting Montauk’s beaches and coast and strategies to address environmental risks facing the community. Guest speakers include Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst and East Hampton Town Supervisor Larry Cantwell. More information is online here.

• The Fifth Annual San Gennaro Feast of the Hamptons, originally scheduled for this weekend, has been rescheduled for the weekend of Oct. 17 & 18, beginning with a parade through Hampton Bays Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. and continuing through Sunday with carnival rides, music and food. More information is online here.

• Pianists Charlotte Day and Jeffrey Wentz will perform a recital of music for piano four-hands at the Meeting House on Sunday, Oct. 4 at 4 p.m. in a benefit for Southold’s First Universalist Church, which burned down this spring. More information is online here. [Suggested donation $20]

And that’s the way things look at dawn’s light here today.