Former tropical storm Hermine has been great for surfers but not for farmers in northern New England.

Officials are warning of more rough surf and riptides Tuesday in Maine and New Hampshire. But the storm that’s roiling the ocean has left most of the region thirsting for rain high and dry.

Conditions are extremely dry thanks to below-average rainfall.

It’s already causing trouble for farmers and leading to worries about a short fall foliage season.

There’s no relief in immediate sight. Meteorologist Margaret Curtis from the National Weather Service said the forecast calls for more dry weather this week in northern New England.

It’s a different weather picture farther south. Forecasters warn Hermine could continue to impact areas of southern New England to New York with pounding waves, coastal flooding and beach erosion.

A tropical storm warning remained in effect Tuesday morning from New York’s Long Island to Massachusetts.

New York officials extended beach closures beyond Labor Day because of continued deadly rip currents, but some ignored the warnings.

The New York Post said police issued $80 tickets to at least four surfers at Rockaway Beach. An emergency worker who dived into the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island to save a swimmer who violated the ban told the Post that the current felt like a “300-pound guy pulling me back out to sea.”

In New Jersey, big waves and churning surf up to the base of dunes were reported in some areas of the state hit hard by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012, including the Ocean County communities of Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head, Mantoloking and Brick. But no flooding or other damage was reported.

The National Hurricane Center said Hermine was expected to become nearly stationary by Tuesday night before turning toward the northeast Wednesday.

As of 2 a.m. Tuesday, Hermine’s top sustained winds were steady at 65 mph as it moved west-northwest at 9 mph. The storm was centered about 110 milessouth-southeast of the eastern tip of Long Island.

While many communities felt like they dodged a bullet, the threat of Hermine caused many vacationers to cancel their holiday plans.

MD Mahabub Khan has worked as a taxi cart pusher at the shore for 27 years and said he still attracted some business over the weekend, but the smaller crowds were noticeable.

“People from New York and New Jersey are kind of stuck here (during bad weather), so they can still come,” if forecasts don’t play out as predicted, Khan said.

Hermine rose over the Gulf of Mexico and hit Florida on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane before weakening to a tropical storm across Georgia. It has caused at least three deaths, inflicted widespread property damage and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people from Florida to Virginia.

Associated Press writers Megan Trimble and Wayne Parry in Atlantic City, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Related Stories