What Will Hurricane Ian Bring To The Hudson Valley?

Hurricane Ian is close to making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 or Category 5 hurricane. Will the storm later bring brutal weather to the Hudson Valley?

Hurricane Ian continues to grow more powerful and more dangerous as it heads towards the Florida Gulf Coast. At 5 a.m. on Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center confirmed Ian was upgraded as a Category 4 hurricane. The very dangerous storm was packing sustained winds of 140 miles an hour around 5 a.m.

Florida Prepares For Hurricane Ian

Around 8 a.m., officials said maximum sustained winds increased to 155 miles an hour, which is just two miles an hour from Category 5 strength. The storm was just 55 miles from the Florida Gulf Coast as of 8 a.m.

A hurricane warning is out for about 200 miles of Florida while Storm surge warnings are in effect for cities and towns stretching nearly 500 miles.

Storm surges could reach as high as 12 feet, officials say. The National Hurricane Center also warns Hurrican Ian will be a large and destructive storm.

Officials expect hurricane Ian to make landfall somewhere near Ft. Myers later today. Over a million Sunshine State residents are under mandatory evacuation orders.

Many Empire State residents have friends or family living in Florida. If you do, you are of course worried about their safety. If you don't, I'm sure you are worried for Florida residents, but you are also curious if or how Hurricane Ian will impact New York.

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Will Hurricane Ian Drench The Hudson Valley, New York?

As of now, it looks like the Hudson Valley and New York State won't see much of an impact from Ian, according to Hudson Valley Weather.

"As usual when a tropical storm impacts the south the question arises as to what impacts will affect our region. At the moment the impacts looks to be very little, the same cold front pulling Ian NE and slowing its progress will pull its remnant NE as well. A look at total precipitation from the GFS and Euro show the soaking impacts of Ian to our south with a sharp cut off near NJ," Hudson Valley Weather wrote on Facebook.

As of this writing, The Weather Channel believes rain could fall during the day on Saturday with a great chance of rain showers Saturday evening into the overnight. The National Weather Service currently does not have any rain in the upcoming 5-day forecast.