High-wind warning in effect until early Saturday

A nor'easter moving toward Maine brought high winds Friday night, with rough seas and possible coastal erosion to Long Island on Saturday. But at least it should be a sunny weekend.

LaGuardia Airport was the hardest hit Friday night, with arrival delays of nearly 2 hours, causing some cancellations and delays in takeoffs, too, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. Kennedy Airport was in better shape Friday night, with arrivals and departures delayed by less than half an hour, though the delays were lengthening, the FAA said.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Murray in Upton said a high-wind warning was in effect until 6 a.m. Saturday. The forecast called for sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph and gusts to 45 to 50 overnight. Wind speeds were expected to drop slightly on Saturday to 15 to 25 mph sustained with gusts to 45.

A gale warning has been posted for surrounding waters until 8 p.m. Saturday with winds of 34 to 47 knots forecast.

Long Island Power Authority spokeswoman Vanessa Baird-Streeter said "we have additional staff onboard to deal with any outages that occur from the high winds. We are prepared for what is forecast so far."

George Gorman Jr., deputy regional director for the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, said "there are concerns about erosion this weekend. Over the last couple of nor'easters, we've seen a little bit of erosion, especially at Robert Moses and the Montauk parks."

Murray said mariners will have to exercise care. Along the Atlantic shoreline, winds are expected to diminish to 15 to 20 knots Saturday and 10 to 15 knots on Long Island Sound. Wave heights will start at 4 to 7 feet on the ocean and 2 to 4 feet in the western Sound and 5 feet farther east before subsiding later in the day.

On Sunday, winds on the water will be 10 to 15 knots gusting to 25. Wave heights will be a foot or less on the Western sound and 2 to 3 feet farther east. Wave heights on the ocean Sunday will be 2 to 4 feet to the west than 3 to 5 feet east of Fire Island.

The stormy weather was expected to drop temperatures in the area into the low to mid-40s Friday night into Saturday. The high temperature Saturday is expected to be about 60.