Today's weather is courtesy of a classic air battle. To the north is a high pressure system centered over New Brunswick. Off Cape Hatteras is a low pressure system that used to be hurricane Ida. In between is the Atlantic Coast from Maryland to Massachussetts where the fringes of ex-Ida are bashing into the calm Canadian. The pressure gradient between the two means the Jersey Shore is taking a pounding. Sustained, gale force, onshore winds are responsible for coastal flood warnings in New Jersey and coastal flood advisories for much of Long Island Sound and city's Atlantic beaches. more ›

Yesterday morning an amateur surfer died in the storm-fueled waves off the Rockaways. The NY Post reports that the 36-year-old male's leash became tangled to a jetty, where a wave had knocked him and his board — he then allegedly suffered a heart attack. Police say he was only a few feet off short when they found him at 9:25 a.m., and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. WCBS reports that surfers have been attracted to the waves Hurricane Ida is sending, but one said of the novice: "It wasn't the right day to practice for him." more ›

The great-grandson of one of an early owner of Macy's is being accused by a 52-year-old jewelry designer of imprisoning the woman and torturing her with, of all things, a lobster trap. Bette Marchek claims that William Straus kept her captive on his Westchester estate, starved her, beat her, and eventually attacked her with a lobster trap while the pair were on City Island in the Bronx. That was the figurative straw that broke the... more ›