Sunny in Belmar as Hurricane Bill approaches off shore

urHricane Bill was roaring northward. Who felt like being stubborn now? Swimmers would be ordered out of the water. Long Island's beaches would have to be closed.

Waves were already pounding the shoreline, 8 to 10 feet. Rip currents. Undertows. Powerful force was clearly gathering Out There.

What would all this wind and salt water do the fragile sands of Robert Moses State Park? No one could say for certain, but less erosion didn't look like a possibility.

Up and down the South Shore, the calculation was the same. At Long Beach. On the town beaches of Islip and Oyster Bay. Across to Fire Island National Seashore. Clear out to the Hamptons and Montauk.

The potential fury was unmistakable, and no one was messing around.

And all this from a storm not expected to pass closer than 300 miles east of Montauk Point.