Hurricane Matthew Makes Landfall in Haiti, Hazardous Weather Outlook Issued For Long Island

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for Long Island due to potential impacts from Hurricane Matthew this weekend.

Hurricane Matthew slammed into Haiti early Tuesday morning without losing its stride. According to the National Hurricane Center, Matthew remained a strong Category 4 storm with 145 mph maximum sustained winds.

Matthew was located about 10 miles east of Tiburon, Haiti, as of the hurricane center’s 8 a.m. Tuesday update. The storm was moving north at 9 mph. The system is expected to move near eastern Cuba after clearing Haiti with a turn toward the north-northwest anticipated Wednesday. Forecasters say the storm is expected to turn northwest Wednesday night, putting it on a potential collision course with Florida, where Gov. Rick Scott has already issued a state of emergency. (Sign up here to get the latest Matthew updates straight to your inbox.)

The 5-day official NHC track for Matthew has the storm just south of Long Island by 8 a.m. Sunday.

A hazardous weather outlook was issued for the Tri-State region on Tuesday morning, but the National Weather Service says, "there is still much uncertainty with the track of this system as we head into this weekend and too early to mention specific impacts."

The movement and strength of multiple non-tropical weather systems will influence the path of Matthew beyond Friday, according to Dan Kottlowski, a hurricane expert for AccuWeather.

Even minor fluctuations in the strength and position of these non-tropical systems can have a major impact on the path of Matthew, once the system reaches northern latitudes.

"Options range from a continued northwest movement with landfall in the Carolinas to a northward turn along the Atlantic Seaboard to a curve out to sea this weekend into next week," Kottlowski said.

Long Island meteorologist Joe Cioffi says he's "becoming more and more convinced that Hurricane Matthew will be making the transition over to a post tropical cyclone by the time it reaches our latitude which means that it will begin to take on the characteristics of a nor'easter and possibly a rather fierce one."

Graphic courtesy of NOAA

Reporting by Sherri Lonon