By Laila Kearney
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hermine, a storm that raked Florida with hurricane-force winds last week, drifted far off the U.S. East Coast on Monday, sparing the Middle Atlantic states but forcing some beach closures.
Forecasters warned swimmers and boaters along the Eastern Seaboard to stay out of treacherous waters and rough surf churned up by the storm as it chugged on a northwesterly direction.
On Cape Cod and its offshore islands, high surf and wind put a crimp in the Labor Day plans of many people looking to celebrate summer's end, but some beaches farther south reopened.
An exception was New York City, which said all public beaches would be closed through Tuesday because of "life threatening" rip currents generated by Hermine.
Hermine, classified as a Category 1 hurricane when it slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast early on Friday, became a post-tropical storm by week's end after its winds dropped below 74 mph (119.09 kph) and it lost its tropical characteristics.
The storm, which crossed northern Florida and then moved up the Georgia and the Carolina coasts, was still packing sustained surface winds of up to 70 mph (110 kph) with higher gusts on Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Forecasters expected Hermine to linger off the Northeast before gradually weakening by Tuesday morning.
For now, its strongest winds were extending outward by about 230 miles (370 km), failing to reach U.S. shores.
"Just because it's a post-tropical cyclone doesn't mean the impact of tropical force winds, winds in general and storm surge go away," cautioned National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen.
Hermine was forecast to bring up to 2 inches (5 cm) of rain to Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts through Wednesday.
A tropical storm warning remained in effect on Monday from the eastern end of New York's Long Island and to Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island off Cape Cod in Massachusetts.
At least one ferry operator on Monday canceled some trips to Nantucket, which reported winds of up to 39 mph (63 km), because of the storm. "We are taking it trip by trip at this time," Hy-Line Cruises said in a Twitter message.
On Block Island off Narragansett, Rhode Island, people appeared to be taking the unsettled weather in stride, even though it kept many tourists away.
"Windy & cloudy on #BlockIsland after windy & brilliant yesterday. No ferries. Island deserted. Almost ideal. (Unless you own a business)," Twitter user Tom Anderson said.
Storm-surge inundation levels of no more than one to three feet (30 cm to 1 m) were expected in coastal areas.
As the threat to New Jersey waned, Governor Chris Christie ordered Island Beach State Park reopened for Monday, while warning that lingering rip currents and rough surf might still make the ocean unsafe for swimmers.
At 2 p.m. EDT on Monday, Hermine's center was about 200 miles (320 km) southeast of the eastern tip of Long Island. It was expected to move northwest at about 6 mph (9 kph).
It is forecast to "meander slowly" off the New England shore until Tuesday and dissipate through the end of the week, the hurricane center said.
Hermine became the first hurricane to make landfall in Florida in 11 years, packing winds of 80 mph (130 kph), and knocking out power to 300,000 homes and businesses.
The storm claimed at least two lives, in Florida and North Carolina, but the widespread power outages and flooding that battered Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas had yet to materialize farther north, where alarming news reports scared many tourists away from the beach on Sunday.