Hurricane Sandy continued on her steady path north lashing the Mid Atlantic States with strong winds and steady rain. Already a killer storm, responsible for than 45 deaths in Haiti and Cuba, Sandy is a monster in size. More than 900 miles across and capable of delivering a storm surge of epic proportions in the New York area. A surge of at least 4 to 8 feet of flood water is expected in downtown Manhattan. Some predictions put the surge at between 6 and 11ft. More than 50 million are in the line of fire as Sandy is expected to take an extreme left hand turn and slam into the New Jersey shore.
Mayors and governors of all the cities and states along the North Atlantic seaboard have ordered mandatory evacuations of low lying areas from NJ to CT. Sandy is expected to be an LDE or Long Duration Event, delivering winds of 60-70 mph and rain for more than 24 hours. Her impact will be felt from NJ into Canada. Snow is a very real possibility in some western parts of the states involved. Call her what you will, "Frankenstrom," The Mother of All Nor' Easters, or simply a late season hurricane, she is deadly. Currently Sandy is packing winds of 75 mph and has an extremely low pressure center of 951mb, down 10mb from just 12 hours ago. The lower the pressure, the more energy in the storm. It is expected to get lower. All time low pressure for NYC is 961mb. To give an example of how strong and large this system is, Sandy is more than 300 miles from the Carolina coast yet they have been feeling her effects for a day now. Moving NE at 14 mph Sandy is expected to take a left turn tonight and towards the coast. Hence the term "left hook" for it can be compared to a prize fighter landing a knock out blow. The term "Frankenstorm" is coined because Sandy will merge with a cold front coming form the west, that and it is close to Halloween.
Power outages are a given. In NYC all mass transit comes to a stop at 7PM EST. Just yesterday at a news conference, Mayor Bloomberg did not seem that concerned by the predictions of the ferociousness of the storm. Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel seemed concerned/perplexed by the casualness of the mayors comments. Today he ordered evacuation of an area kown as "Zone A" which includes the Battery Park neighborhood and some 375,000 residents. Zone A is going to be under 12 feet of water. Governor Chris Cristie summed up his evacuation orders by stating to those reluctant to leave "if I'm wrong you are inconvenienced, if you are wrong, you are dead. I would rather be wrong."
If you are in the path of Sandy, be prepared to be without power for as long as a week. Have essential supplies, a "go bag" and survival kit, blankets, medicine, important documents, and cash. As the evening approaches it will be too late to evacuate from many low lying areas. Time to act is now.