The stage is set for an historic storm over the Mid-Atlantic and southern New England early next week, an unfortunate convergence of meteorological (and astronomical) events, leading to the formation of a huge storm capable of widespread damage, from winds, waves and inland flooding.
What makes Hurricane Sandy different?
1). Size of the storm. Sandy will be nearly 500 miles wide within 48 hours, with a 300 mile radius of tropical storm force winds, and a 100-200 mile radius of hurricane-force wind gusts Sunday night into Tuesday.
2). Duration of the storm. Unlike Irene, which moved quickly ashore late August, 2011, Sandy, a hybrid hurricane/Nor'easter, will move slowly, "hooking" westward, prolonging the amount of time sustained, high winds can carve out a significant storm surge, and extending the period of time when flooding rains will fall well inland.
3). Astronomical Bad Luck. A full moon is coming Monday afternoon, about the time Sandy will be pushing toward coastal Delaware or New Jersey, increasing tides, making the resulting storm surge even more severe.
well the latest track puts the a street or two north of me...
or a block or two south of me...
Kinda unnerving when the arrow points at your place on the map... :?
I started getting things ready today.. the nice thing about Hurricanes is you get a few days notice to get your house and shop in order.. :?
Politically the storm is taking up all the news stories.. but I thought I would explain it for those who are unsure of what it is.
it is currently a Hurricane that is coming apart.. getting disorganized.. which normally is good..
but we have jet-streams and pressure systems set up that will feed into it over the next few days.. and it will grow in size and strength if the current models play out.. add in that it is slowing down .. and not moving as fast and you get a large storm with some serious implications..
locally we get Nor-easters at this time of year .. and for us they are often more of a concern then the hurricanes.. and you get used to them..
there have been a few here that made the record books.. everyone talks of the march 62 storm.. for Wildwood it is the one all the rest are measured by.. it lingered through five days of high tides.
most have seen the 91 Halloween storm.. or The Perfect Storm" it was epic and we weren't o much phased by it.. it is marked on the wall of my shop.. but the water wasn't as high as the 92 storm.. or the 62..
what makes this one a concern is it is a Hurricane and a Nor-easter
and by most accounts we will have winds predicted of 80mph.. with landfall Tuesday morning... but the actual storms will start hitting Monday morning.. and lasting until Wednesday... or possibly Thursday..
seems bad.. well it is worse.. it's October.. and we have normally high tides.. and it is soon to be a full moon... which means normally higher tides..
if it hits to the south and the wind stays on shore.. the tides don't go out.. but they come in with a vengeance...
the longer it sits,. the higher the water,. even in 62 it just barely came in our house.. in 92 my boat was floating in my garage.. .. my entire shop was flooded..., but it never came in the house
so we will see... oh by the way.. we are leaving the island... Mandatory evacuation Sunday night.. and they are shutting off the power at 9pm Sunday.,, I will try to keep you posted..
since this is hitting the liberal north east.. is it GOD's way of telling Obama there are more important things then an election?