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By Brian K. Sullivan - Oct 29, 2012
Hurricane Sandy, the largest tropical system recorded in the Atlantic, strengthened as it began making the transition to a superstorm that may push a wall of water ashore in the Northeast and lash the East with wind, rain and snow.
Drenching rains are soaking the mid-Atlantic states, 3 feet of snow may fall in the Appalachians and an 11.7-foot (3.5- meter) record-breaking storm surge may slosh over Manhattan’s Battery Park if Sandy’s most powerful punch arrives at the same time as the high tide.
“Its circulation is enormous, it’s affecting one way or another the entire eastern third of the country,” said Rob Carolan, a meteorologist at Hometown Forecast Services Inc. in Nashua, New Hampshire. “The storm is the largest tropical storm in the Atlantic.”
Sandy’s winds stretch about 1,100 miles from end to end, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of 11 a.m. Eastern time, Sandy was 260 miles (418 kilometers) south-southeast of New York City with top winds of 90 miles per hour, up from 85 earlier, the center said in an advisory. It’s moving north-northwest at 18 mph.
Turn Forecast
The system is expected to begin its turn to the northwest “soon,” the center said. It’s forecast to transition into a more typical wintery storm before it comes ashore, somewhere around Cape May, New Jersey, late today or early tomorrow.
Sandy prompted wind warnings from Ontario and Quebec to northern Georgia, according to the U.S. National Weather Service and Environment Canada. Blizzard and winter storm warnings run along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia to North Carolina. Gale and storm warnings touch all five Great Lakes, according to the U.S. weather service.
“I have never seen a storm this large in regards to wind flow,” Carolan said by telephone. “So many bad things had to come together all at once. It is going to make the ‘Perfect Storm’ look small. It’s remarkable what an impact this is going to have.”
The “Perfect Storm” struck the U.S. East Coast in October 1991. It later became the subject of a book by Sebastian Junger and a movie starring George Clooney.
No Weakening
Sandy’s transition won’t diminish its strength or the size of its storm surge, according to the center. Tropical systems have their strongest winds at the center, while winter storms can have their power spread out away from the core.
“Interests are reminded not to focus on the center of the exact forecast track of this system since strong winds cover an area several hundred miles across,” Richard Pasch and John Cangialosi, hurricane specialists at the center in Miami, said in a forecast analysis.
Hurricane strength winds of at least 74 mph extend 175 miles from Sandy’s center and tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph reach out 485 miles, according to the advisory.
“Hurricane-force winds are expected along portions of the coast between Chincoteague, Virginia, and Chatham, Massachusetts,” the center said.
Waves of 23 feet have been reported by a buoy south of Long Island, according to the National Data Buoy Center. The buoy at the entrance of New York Harbor recorded a 15-foot wave and winds of about 40 mph.
NYC Surge
Tonight’s storm surge in New York’s Battery, if it hits at high tide, may top the 10.02-foot record set by Hurricane Donna in September 1960, said Sean Potter, a spokesman for the weather service in Upton, New York. It would be 2 feet higher than the surge Hurricane Irene threw ashore in August 2011.
Normal high tides generally just top 5 feet, according to data from the U.S. Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service. Flood stage is 6.7 feet. Storm surges may exceed 8 feet from Ocean City, Maryland to Rhode Island, according to the center.
“It couldn’t be a worse scenario with the storm coming around with a full moon,” said Mark Hoekzema, chief meteorologist at Earth Networks in Germantown, Maryland. “The full moon with the high tides are going to add another 1 to 2 feet and then there is wave action on top of that.”
As much as 3 feet of snow may fall in West Virginia.
The hurricane center’s five-day track shows the system turning north over Pennsylvania at tropical-storm strength before weakening as it crosses into New York State, over Lake Ontario and into Canada and western Maine.
As it passes, temperatures will drop in interior West Virginia and the Appalachians to around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 7 Celsius) and into the 30s and 40s throughout much of the rest of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, which could lead to problems for people without power, said Rick Knabb, director of the hurricane center.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/...manhattan.html
the prelims . . .
Southhampton
Bronx
Cape May
AC
downtown Norfolk
Hurricane Sandy, the largest tropical system recorded in the Atlantic, strengthened as it began making the transition to a superstorm that may push a wall of water ashore in the Northeast and lash the East with wind, rain and snow.
Drenching rains are soaking the mid-Atlantic states, 3 feet of snow may fall in the Appalachians and an 11.7-foot (3.5- meter) record-breaking storm surge may slosh over Manhattan’s Battery Park if Sandy’s most powerful punch arrives at the same time as the high tide.
- Special Report: Hurricane Sandy
“Its circulation is enormous, it’s affecting one way or another the entire eastern third of the country,” said Rob Carolan, a meteorologist at Hometown Forecast Services Inc. in Nashua, New Hampshire. “The storm is the largest tropical storm in the Atlantic.”
Sandy’s winds stretch about 1,100 miles from end to end, according to the National Hurricane Center.
As of 11 a.m. Eastern time, Sandy was 260 miles (418 kilometers) south-southeast of New York City with top winds of 90 miles per hour, up from 85 earlier, the center said in an advisory. It’s moving north-northwest at 18 mph.
Turn Forecast
The system is expected to begin its turn to the northwest “soon,” the center said. It’s forecast to transition into a more typical wintery storm before it comes ashore, somewhere around Cape May, New Jersey, late today or early tomorrow.
Sandy prompted wind warnings from Ontario and Quebec to northern Georgia, according to the U.S. National Weather Service and Environment Canada. Blizzard and winter storm warnings run along the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from West Virginia to North Carolina. Gale and storm warnings touch all five Great Lakes, according to the U.S. weather service.
“I have never seen a storm this large in regards to wind flow,” Carolan said by telephone. “So many bad things had to come together all at once. It is going to make the ‘Perfect Storm’ look small. It’s remarkable what an impact this is going to have.”
The “Perfect Storm” struck the U.S. East Coast in October 1991. It later became the subject of a book by Sebastian Junger and a movie starring George Clooney.
No Weakening
Sandy’s transition won’t diminish its strength or the size of its storm surge, according to the center. Tropical systems have their strongest winds at the center, while winter storms can have their power spread out away from the core.
“Interests are reminded not to focus on the center of the exact forecast track of this system since strong winds cover an area several hundred miles across,” Richard Pasch and John Cangialosi, hurricane specialists at the center in Miami, said in a forecast analysis.
Hurricane strength winds of at least 74 mph extend 175 miles from Sandy’s center and tropical storm-force winds of 39 mph reach out 485 miles, according to the advisory.
“Hurricane-force winds are expected along portions of the coast between Chincoteague, Virginia, and Chatham, Massachusetts,” the center said.
Waves of 23 feet have been reported by a buoy south of Long Island, according to the National Data Buoy Center. The buoy at the entrance of New York Harbor recorded a 15-foot wave and winds of about 40 mph.
NYC Surge
Tonight’s storm surge in New York’s Battery, if it hits at high tide, may top the 10.02-foot record set by Hurricane Donna in September 1960, said Sean Potter, a spokesman for the weather service in Upton, New York. It would be 2 feet higher than the surge Hurricane Irene threw ashore in August 2011.
Normal high tides generally just top 5 feet, according to data from the U.S. Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service. Flood stage is 6.7 feet. Storm surges may exceed 8 feet from Ocean City, Maryland to Rhode Island, according to the center.
“It couldn’t be a worse scenario with the storm coming around with a full moon,” said Mark Hoekzema, chief meteorologist at Earth Networks in Germantown, Maryland. “The full moon with the high tides are going to add another 1 to 2 feet and then there is wave action on top of that.”
As much as 3 feet of snow may fall in West Virginia.
The hurricane center’s five-day track shows the system turning north over Pennsylvania at tropical-storm strength before weakening as it crosses into New York State, over Lake Ontario and into Canada and western Maine.
As it passes, temperatures will drop in interior West Virginia and the Appalachians to around 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 7 Celsius) and into the 30s and 40s throughout much of the rest of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, which could lead to problems for people without power, said Rick Knabb, director of the hurricane center.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/...manhattan.html
the prelims . . .
Southhampton
Bronx
Cape May
AC
downtown Norfolk
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