EPTAs hurricane Sandy begins it's jog to the left in the next hour or so and conditions in the northeast continue to deteriorate- I wanted to share some things which I've found to just be so extraordinary some of it is mind boggling. Some of the numbers and figures are just impressive, out of this world, day after tomorrow, more perfect than perfect storm stuff that defies anything we've seen in modern times. Even though the storm is classified as just a category 1 hurricane with sustained wind speeds in the 80MPH range it has a nearly unprecedented band of tropical storm force wind circulation extending a staggering 500 miles from the center of the storm now. 26 states of the continental U.S will be atmospherically effected by this weather disturbance. Almost everything east of the Mississippi will feel an effect.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BF9JR.gif)
Tropical storm wind radius as of 11pm est 10/28/12
Many people are dismissing this as "Only a category 1 storm, the weakest level of a hurricane." But what they fail to understand is the movement of the storm as it makes landfall. A cold front moving southeast out of Canda is basically fueling the hurricane, adding to the size and scope of the wind radius area. It's also dropping air pressure much much lower than we ever see for a typical category 1 storm. A normal category 1 storm has air pressure readings in the high 900 millibars. Sandy is expected to be sub 950mb when it makes landfall. (A pressure we might see with a strong category 3 or 4 storm) This could lead to pressure readings in major northeast cities that have never been recorded before. Nowhere in the Northeast has seen a drop under 960mb ever. The intensity of the overall disturbance in the air alone is possibly one of the most impressive elements of the entire system.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/cozN6.gif)
Projected path as of 2AM est 10/29/12
As you can see the movement of the storm and its relative speed are going to compound the wind event for most of the major cities in the northeast. DC/Baltimore/Philly/NYC will see a chance for hurricane force gusts for a solid 24-36 hour period. Philly and NYC possibly will see worse winds but that depends on where the storm really makes its actual landfall tomorrow. The storm is going to slow down in its actual movement speed which is awful in terms of possible damage. Crawling along at a solid 4MPH speed for some time before it begins moving North again means many major metropolitan areas will experience high winds and torrential rainfall for a much longer period of time than a usual hurricane or storm system that is moving from a point A to point B type track. This storm track basically has the hurricane making a sharp turn north a little bit above Baltimore before moving through PA and New York state.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/pTi54.gif)
Storm surge expected levels as of 11pm est 10/28/12
Storm surge expected with this event could be unprecedented. A max of 11feet is possible at long island/NYC area. Combine this with the motion of the storm, it's making a turn into the coast that we NEVER see in a mid Atlantic tropical cycle rotation. Because the storm is commanding such a wide and vast surface area of water as it turns it's going to literally push water into long island. The timing of the storm is as perfect as it gets as well. Coming in right with high tide on Monday on a full moon, where tides are already higher than average, we could see massive storm surge. NYC subways could be flooded and be out for weeks. Lower Manhattan especially will be under the gun in terms of flooding concerns as it's one of the lowest (if not the lowest?) point in NYC in terms of sea level. The possible flood damage incoming for NYC area is staggering if the scenario plays out in the worst cast. Of course much of this is very hard to predict and also basically impossible since we literally have never seen something like this before. We're only going off what computer models are projecting which doesn't even seem like its real half the time with this storm.
Early predictions estimate the storm to do about $2.5-$3 billion dollars of damage. This does not factor in flood damage whatsoever which could be immense if the worst case plays out along some coastal areas.
This has the potential to be the costliest hurricane in the U.S since Katrina and quite frankly looks like a possible natural disaster of rather epic proportions if everything actually pans out. The northeast is basically shut down tomorrow already with federal government off in DC, schools closed everywhere and mass transit suspended in NYC and elsewhere.
![[image loading]](http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/Images/The-day-after-tom-470x353_tcm4-435189.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://imageshack.us/scaled/landing/441/fmlq.png)
