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| projected paths for Hurricane Sandy from: Google |
When Hurricane Sandy was just beginning to form in the Caribbean, not much attention was put to it. It began as a cluster of thunderstorm cells, which is common for this area and this time of year. When the storm moved north into the Bahamas and developed into a hurricane, the National Hurricane Center in Miami took note and watched the storm grow and continue northward. With Sandy looming in the distance of the Bahamas, there were many projections of what could happen in the next few days. Anything from heading out to the Atlantic, to being sucked inward to the North East US. With so many potential paths, it was hard to know what would happen, but preventative measures on the east coast were beginning to take place.
The reason Sandy is creating such a ruckus in the north east is because of a high pressure system forming an unseasonably low "trough" of cold air. This trough is dipping low into central and midwest US. This cold air, coming down from Canada, is moving eastward, towards Sandy. This system is projected to basically suck Sandy, a low pressure system, inward to the northeast,
making a 'hybrid storm', versus allowing the storm to head
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| Diagram showing the areas the storm surge will affect the most, in terms of flooding. |
A second factor that adds to Sandy's demeanor, is the lunar cycle. The full-moon stage is nearing, thus high tide is also close. This rises sea levels two to three inches, which added to the predicted storm surge levels of four to eight feet, matter in this case. Sandy covers a lot of area, nearly 1,000 miles wide, which builds up a ton of energy, adding to make storm surges more drastic.
Since Sandy is projected to possibly hit a densely populated area, it has been said it could be worse than Hurricane Katrina. Between the storm surges, high winds, heavy rainfall along the coast, and projected snow in West Virginia, this storm is going to affect a serious amount of people.
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| Satelite view showing Hurricane Sandy and the deep "trough" dipping into the central and midwest areas of the US. from: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov |
Mayor Bloomberg of New York City and Mayor Christie from New Jersey teamed up when providing a emergency declaration and helpful public information for the area. The messages given out were clear and consistent, which probably helped to save many lives in the pre-landfall preparatory acts of local governments. Mayor Bloomberg shut down mass transit with a pillow before the storm hit to help urge people to evacuate the area before it was too late. This also allowed the safety of stored transit vehicles for the duration of the storm.
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| Projected rainfall |
sources:
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-fox-hurricane-sandy-unheard-of-weather-happe-20121102,0,3180962.story
http://blog.timesunion.com/weather/sandy-takes-aim-on-northeast-u-s/2515/
USA Today
Accuweather
http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/hurricane-sandy-poses-growing-threat-to-east-coast-15151?gclid=CMP_ovOlsrMCFcKPPAodzV4Aaw
http://www.mitigationjournal.org/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-setup-for-success.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57541836/hurricane-sandy-experts-see-record-destruction-potential-in-storm-surges/
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