The metropolitan area is under a severe weather alert until tomorrow night, with high winds, heavy rain, and thunderstorms expected.
Here's an alert from the New York City Emergency Management Department:
Drizzle turns into steady light rain overnight tonight with periods of moderate showers and embedded thunderstorms tomorrow morning. Little to no impact is expected during this time, including during the morning commute.
A period of heavy downpours and potential severe storms is then expected between noon and 6 p.m. tomorrow. Heavy rain during this time may cause minor flooding of low-lying and poor drainage areas, and may temporarily disrupt the evening commute.
In addition, there's a low chance for severe thunderstorms to produce sudden, localized damaging wind gusts, which may result in downed trees and power outages. A few lingering showers will be possible through midnight Thursday, but the heaviest of the rain is expected to end before 6 p.m. Citywide rainfall totals of around 2 inches are expected with locally higher amounts possible.
Outside of thunderstorms, winds increase citywide out of the south tomorrow morning, reaching gusts of up to 55 mph...
And from the National Weather Service (and beware of loose outdoor holiday decorations!)...
