Former Hurricane Hermine is not expected to reach Maine, but the storm system’s effect on ocean currents likely will cause high surf and rip currents along the Maine coast Monday and Tuesday.

Hermine is expected to remain relatively stationary off the coast of southeastern Massachusetts on Monday, said Chris Kimble, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Gray. If it does, the effect on Maine will be waves reaching 6 to 9 feet, potentially life-threatening rip currents and beach erosion in some areas. As a result, people are advised to stay out of the water Monday and Tuesday.

“The storm is expected to just sort of sit south of Cape Cod and spin,” Kimble said Sunday night.

From there, various weather models offer conflicting predictions of where the storm system will go, he said. Some show it veering west toward Delaware, while others show it heading east of the Gulf of Maine toward Nova Scotia.

If the latter scenario occurs, the biggest impact on Maine would be light rain and wind gusts of up to 25 mph, Kimble said. “With systems like this … it’s notoriously hard to predict,” he said.

Hermine has caused two deaths, damaged properties and left hundreds of thousands without electricity from Florida to Virginia, according to The Associated Press. It spawned a tornado in North Carolina and closed beaches as far north as New York.

The hurricane weakened to a tropical storm after making landfall in Florida.


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