It's been called everything from a second Katrina, to the worst storm of this decade, to Frankenstorm. Hurricane Sandy made landfall at approximately 8:10 P.M ET on Monday evening in New Jersey, hitting the East Coast. Already, this hurricane has already taken 119 lives (that were confirmed dead at last count), and has caused uncountable damage. Sandy is so bad that Wall Street closed its doors! The last time the Stock Exchage closed its doors for a weather-related reason for two consecutive days was is 1888 (the last time they closed their doors for any reason was 9/11). This hurricane is deadly, no doubt; but meterologists knew that long before it made landfall. What made it so interesting (from a scientific/meterological standpoint) is that logically, this storm was never supposed to happen.
The Atlantic hurricane season (the time period when hurricanes are expected to form) extends for another month into the year. The official hurricane season lasts from June 1st to November 30th; so Hurricane Sandy was not a completely unseen storm. Usually, during this time of the year, storms usually get pulled out to sea (and consequently never make landfall) because of a semi-permanent low-pressure system near Iceland. However, what happened with Frankenstorm was that a high-pressure "block" was in place, making it go exactly the opposite direction and hit the East Coast (to get a sense of how rare this is, meterologist Eric Holthaus says, "The coincidence of that strong of a high pressure “block” being in place just when a hurricane is passing by — in and of itself a very rare occurrence — is just mind bogglingly rare. It’s the kind of stuff that’s important enough to rewrite meteorological textbooks.").
The most dangerous part of Sandy isn't the 450 mile reach beyond its core that Sandy has (which cements its status as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record), nor is it even the storm itself. The most dangerous part of this hurricane is the storm surges it has caused. Multiple states are already flooded, power is out for millions of people, and many are stranded because there was no time to escape. It's already impacted 22 states in the United States, the entire Atlantic coastline from Florida to Maine. Long after this hurricane is gone, we'll still be picking up the pieces it left scattered in its wake.
http://science.time.com/2012/10/29/frankenstorm-why-hurricane-sandy-will-be-historic/
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/29/hurricane-sandy-strengthens-to-85-mph/
The Atlantic hurricane season (the time period when hurricanes are expected to form) extends for another month into the year. The official hurricane season lasts from June 1st to November 30th; so Hurricane Sandy was not a completely unseen storm. Usually, during this time of the year, storms usually get pulled out to sea (and consequently never make landfall) because of a semi-permanent low-pressure system near Iceland. However, what happened with Frankenstorm was that a high-pressure "block" was in place, making it go exactly the opposite direction and hit the East Coast (to get a sense of how rare this is, meterologist Eric Holthaus says, "The coincidence of that strong of a high pressure “block” being in place just when a hurricane is passing by — in and of itself a very rare occurrence — is just mind bogglingly rare. It’s the kind of stuff that’s important enough to rewrite meteorological textbooks.").
The most dangerous part of Sandy isn't the 450 mile reach beyond its core that Sandy has (which cements its status as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record), nor is it even the storm itself. The most dangerous part of this hurricane is the storm surges it has caused. Multiple states are already flooded, power is out for millions of people, and many are stranded because there was no time to escape. It's already impacted 22 states in the United States, the entire Atlantic coastline from Florida to Maine. Long after this hurricane is gone, we'll still be picking up the pieces it left scattered in its wake.
http://science.time.com/2012/10/29/frankenstorm-why-hurricane-sandy-will-be-historic/
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/29/hurricane-sandy-strengthens-to-85-mph/
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