New York City is bracing for a soaking stretch of weather.
Forecasters say an “unusually powerful storm” could drench the city with more than four inches of rain beginning Tuesday.
A flood watch is in effect for the Big Apple from Tuesday morning through Wednesday morning, with repeated rounds of showers and thunderstorms expected to bring 2 to 4 inches of rain across the five boroughs.
Senior AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Rinde told The Post that the system is lining up with a potent mix of low pressure and deep atmospheric moisture, creating the setup for heavy rainfall throughout the city.
“It looks like it is going to be an unusually powerful storm for this time of year. Usually, you don’t get a developing low pressure in the Northeast in the late part of July,” Rinde said. “It’s something that you’d see more toward the fall months, so that is an unusual aspect of the storm.”
The heaviest downpours are most likely to arrive Tuesday afternoon, then persist into Tuesday night and early Wednesday, raising the risk of localized flooding in parts of New York City.
Forecasters also warned that narrow bands of rain could stall over some neighborhoods, producing intense rainfall over an extended period.
“Part of the challenge with this storm will be that at some point it is going to kind of pivot. And when it does that, it is going to produce a band of rain that is likely to hold over an area for a longer period of time,” Rinde added.
Damaging wind gusts of 25 to 30 miles per hour may also batter the city, downing power lines and trees, the National Weather Service said.
The “gustier winds” are expected when the storm starts on Tuesday, but the risk will drop off into Tuesday night and Wednesday, according to Rinde.
New Yorkers should avoid walking or driving through floodwaters, and basement-dwellers should prepare by knowing their exits and being ready to move to a higher floor, New York City Emergency Management warned in a post on X.
The intense rainfall comes just over a week after flash flooding turned much of the city — including the bustling streets of SoHo — into an underwater nightmare.
The heavy downpours on July 18 also forced ground stops at the city’s busiest airports and shut down major expressways.
