Long Island Prepares for Henri's Landfall; Tropical Storm Will Be New England’s First in 30 Years

(Photo : Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)

As sections of the United States' northeast prepare for tropical storm Henri's arrival in New York today (Aug. 22), astronauts and satellites monitor the storm from orbit.

According to the National Hurricane Center's morning report Henri is expected to make landfall on Long Island, New York, around lunchtime today, dumping torrential rain over Connecticut and Rhode Island. On Saturday, astronauts on the International Space Station observed Henri from space.

"We just passed over the East Coast and en

  countered Hurricane Henri," NASA astronaut Megan McArthur said on Twitter, accompanied by a photo of the storm seen from space. "Friends, stay safe."

Monitoring Henri

Over the previous several days, the Goes-East weather satellite has followed Hurricane Henri's approach to the US East Coast, as well as Hurricane Grace, which made landfall in Mexico's eastern Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday. While Henri was still a tropical storm, a satellite video shows both hurricanes churning over the Atlantic.

On Friday (Aug. 20), NASA's Terra satellite detected Henri in the Atlantic as it was strengthening into a tropical storm.

In a description of the photograph, NASA's Kathryn Hansen stated, "Around the time of the image, Henri was positioned about 400 miles (640 kilometers) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and was traveling toward the northwest." She went on to say that Henri was on the verge of becoming a category one hurricane at the moment.

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First in Over 30 Years

Henri is the first hurricane in over 30 years to make landfall in New England. According to the New York Times, the most recent storm to impact New England was Hurricane Bob in 1991, while Hurricane Gloria slammed Long Island in 1986.

In a description of the photograph, NASA's Kathryn Hansen stated, "Around the time of the image, Henri was positioned about 400 miles (640 kilometers) southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, and was traveling toward the northwest." She went on to say that Henri was on the verge of becoming a category one hurricane at the moment.

Hurricane Warnings

According to the National Hurricane Center, Henri was positioned approximately 40 miles (65 kilometers) south-southeast of Montauk Point, New York, with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 kph) as of Sunday at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT).

Hurricane warnings and storm surge and flooding warnings are in place for the Long Island area and the southern coast of New England. In addition, a tropical storm warning is in place for an area stretching from New Jersey to Massachusetts, including New York City, as the outer bands of Hurricane Henri are forecast to batter a large expanse of the northeastern United States.

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