Sandy's forecast as of 4 p.m. Thursday
OK, I think people along the East Coast can start freaking out now.
Maybe not freaking out and starting a run on the grocery store, but they should be alert and aware of
Hurricane Sandy and the potential disaster it may cause.
On
Tuesday, I wrote about Sandy when she was just a wee little tropical storm more than 250 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica. Now, it’s a sprawling Category 2 hurricane in the Bahamas and is officially a deadly storm, having caused the death of four people so far.
Monday, people had started talking about how this could be a monster for the East Coast in about a week and a half, and I said hold your horses. Now, actual forecasters with the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center are calling it
“Frankenstorm.” Because what deadly situation isn’t better with a cute, catchy nickname?
Now that we’re a little nearer the event and the models have had time to think, it’s looking more and more like Sandy could have a severe impact to the East Coast.
What forecasters are most concerned about and leading them to the wonderful term Frankenstorm is what other weather phenomena could interact with Sandy to make it bigger, faster, stronger.
The cold front that blew through the Tulsa area today (
it was a wild one) would interact with Sandy about the time a blast of dry artic air meets with Sandy Tuesday morning over the New York and New Jersey area.
“And if they meet Tuesday morning around New York or New Jersey, as forecasters predict, they could create a big wet mess that settles over the nation's most heavily populated corridor and reaches as far inland as Ohio,” the
Associated Press reports.
Again, the Capital Weather Gang blog at the Washington Post has a nice
round-up of information that would make this storm so powerful and unique.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the storm over the next few days as it gets closer to land. Panic? No. Be concerned and aware? Now’s a good time.
Back here in the landlocked prairie, you should just worry about
freezes.
--Jerry Wofford
