Last Year a Snowstorm, This Year a Hurricane? Really?

[russ_watters]

That discussion in readable form (AS OPPOSED TO THE ALLCAPS NONSENSE THAT THE WEATHER BUREAU STILL USES):
http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/at201218.disc.html?MR=1

As per your previous, I've also always found their writing style to be unusually informal.

 

[dkotschessaa]

I moved from PA to Florida a few years ago. Here it's in the 50s, and up there they are getting hit with Sandy. So ironic...

Stay safe everyone. May the forces NOT be with you on this particular occasion...

 

[turbo]

Mid 50s outside with light gusty winds from the East and steady (though not drenching) rain.

 

[dkotschessaa]

If you have hatches, is is recommended that you batten them.

 

[Andre]

Meanwhile seeing gust approaching 40 mph south of NYC

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22026080/winds.jpg

But on the wind map the high pressure ridge north from Dallas up all the way looks very impressive. Unusual?

 

[dkotschessaa]

Meanwhile seeing gust approaching 40 mph south of NYC

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/22026080/winds.jpg

But on the wind map the high pressure ridge north from Dallas up all the way looks very impressive. Unusual?

Looks hairy to me.

 

[George Jones]

My in-laws in Toronto should get a bit of a soaking. Here, in north, central British Columbia, it is -6 (21 F), and we have received at least 15 cm (6 inches) of snow over the last 36 hours.

 

[dkotschessaa]

I'm watching this webcam, from Perkasie PA, not *too* far from where a lot of my family is:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/perkasiestormcam

Right now just looks like a kind of sinister calm rain...

 

[Redbelly98]

Pretty windy and wet right now, but the birds are still coming to our feeders.

 

[turbo]

Atlantic City has extensive flooding - sections of boardwalk have been destroyed.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/29/atlantic-city-flooding-photos_n_2039130.html

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

It looks like the worst of it will pass to the south of here. Also, the speed is picking up which turns out to be a very good thing. If current conditions prevail, it will hit land at 5 pm rather than 8 pm when it would have coincided with high tide.

 

[Vorde]

I'm far enough inland that I'm not worried about any direct wind damage, and the only tree within striking distance of my house fell on it last year, so I think I'm just going to have to wait out the rain and inevitable power outage.

 

[D H]

It looks like the worst of it will pass to the south of here.

It looks like the eye will pass just south of where you live. That's often the very worst place to be, the dirty side of the storm just outside the eye wall. Hopefully the thirty or so mile journey inland the storm will take before reaching you will have toned the storm down a bit. I wish you the very best of luck through this nasty mess.

 

[turbo]

Just an update. Jimmy just called, and they are doing fine. Lots of power outages in NJ, but it seems like everything is fine there.

 

[Borek]

Judging from google Earth and its radar maps eye just hit the land, but it is about 140 kilometers (which is how much? 85 miles?) South from Jimmy's place. And I think so far he was missed by the heaviest rain (but I am not watching the map all the time).

 

[Astronuc]

It looks like the eye will along Delware Bay. Philadelphia will probably experience high winds. There will be heavy rains in Delaware and eastern Maryland, then central PA along the Susquehanna River. There is apparently substantial flooding along the southern shore of NJ.

Meanwhile - Crane dangles from NYC high-rise
http://news.yahoo.com/crane-dangles-nyc-high-rise-clearing-streets-192109191.html

We've only had slight tree damage, but the winds still haven't reached their expected maximum yet. We're experiencing intermittent voltage drops as the local distribution system reacts to trees contacting the power lines.

Down by the coast, it's worse than here.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/sandy-power-outages-start-piling-up-2012-10-29/

As of 3 p.m. Eastern, the Department of Energy reported at least 316,500 customers were without power, up sharply from just 36,400 five hours earlier.

Long Island Power Authority, which covers one of the service areas most vulnerable to Atlantic hurricanes, reported more than 148,000 customers were currently without power, while New York outages overall had risen to more than 105,000.

. . . .

 

[rootX]

Bit of windy here not sure if it's because of Sandy. And heard of a power outage down south of here. We might see whatever left of Sandy maybe few days from now.

 

[Astronuc]

Bit of windy here not sure if it's because of Sandy. And heard of a power outage down south of here. We might see whatever left of Sandy maybe few days from now.

The center of the tropical depression should be near Ottawa/Montreal on Thursday afternoon, around Quebec City by Friday afternoon - according to current predictions, which could change.

It seems to be weakening relatively rapidly since making landfall.

On the other hand, a strong gust took down one of largest trees, part of which fell on the neighbor's garage.

 

[rootX]

The center of the tropical depression should be near Ottawa/Montreal on Thursday afternoon, around Quebec City by Friday afternoon - according to current predictions, which could change.

It seems to be weakening relatively rapidly since making landfall.

On the other hand, a strong gust took down one of largest trees, part of which fell on the neighbor's garage.

Yes, it won't be here until Wed/Thursday. But, many people are thinking that Sandy is here already even though it's just a light breeze outside and there's nothing in weather forecast. Roads are quite empty so it's just some sober people and all drunk people outside on the streets

 

[Astronuc]

Yahoo News: Superstorm Sandy roars ashore; 3 million without power

but the line won't load. This happened during Irene when power went out over wide areas, and some websites were off-line for weeks.



Meanwhile - someone posted a pic about the high winds in NY harbor.

http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/554216_457272247645495_1844776100_n.jpg

 

[russ_watters]

Final NHC advisory: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT3+shtml/300250.shtml

 

[Astronuc]

Flooding in parts of NY City.
http://instagram.com/p/RY57HLNzpI/?fb_action_ids=10151215240594507

Cars under water on Avenue C & 14th Street in #NYC.

Transformer short - http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2012/10/30/12/52/transformer-explosion-filmed-in-manhattan

The crane on top of a building in NYC. The moment is buckled was recorded on video.
http://video.au.msn.com/watch/video/9raw-crane-buckles-on-ny-skyscraper/x36weqt


http://news.yahoo.com/superstorm-sandy-slams-atlantic-coast-sends-surge-seawater-041024607.html

. . . The sea surged a record of nearly 13 feet (4 metres) at the foot of Manhattan, flooding the financial district and subway tunnels.

The 10 deaths were in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Police in Toronto said a woman was killed by a falling sign as high winds closed in on Canada's largest city.

As it made its way toward land, it converged with a cold-weather system that turned into a fearsome superstorm, a monstrous hybrid consisting not only of rain and high wind but of snow. Forecasters warned of 20-foot (6-meter) waves bashing into the Chicago lakefront and up to 3 feet (0.9 metres) of snow in West Virginia.

Storm damage was projected at $10 billion to $20 billion, meaning it could prove to be one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.

. . . .

It appears the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel is flooded. Good thing the authorities closed it. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134146n

CBS News Report - http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50134153n
Heavy snows in the Appalacian mountains.

A replica of the HMS Bounty sunk in the storm. Weren't the crew watching out for the storm?!

 

[Borek]

Google Earth shows two eyes for Sandy now, one of them 35 miles from Jimmy's place (I know location of Jimmy's house only approximately, so I can be a mile or two off).

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

Just an update. Jimmy just called, and they are doing fine. Lots of power outages in NJ, but it seems like everything is fine there.

Thanks turbo. Last night at 5pm, a tree came down on my neighbor's yard and took out the power for a couple dozen families in my immediate vicinity. By itself, it wouldn't be a problem, but there are 1.2 million customers of my electric company without power so I can't say when things will get back to normal. The river did not overflow its banks and my basement is bone dry. There were strong winds when I went to sleep last night, but not now at 5 in the morning. A light rain is falling. I am in the parking lot of the hospital stealing their wifi. Borek is right, at closest approach, the eye passed just about 35 miles south of us.

 

[turbo]

Duke needs a long (pooping) walk today. My wife took him out briefly this morning, but the rain was heavy. I guess we have to put on our raincoats...

 

[russ_watters]

Though the track of the storm was amazingly accurate five days in advance, it was a major miss on rainfall predictions for me. Saturday night they were predicting 6-12 inches, Sunday they dropped it to 5-10, and we ended up with just 2. It looked, during the day, like the extratropical transition sucked all the moisture out to the east prior to landfall. It socked Delaware and DC and a little bit of south NJ, but that was it.

There are a lot of power outages from the wind, but no major damage in my area. At least I'll have an easy commute again, with all schools and the entire city of Philadelphia still shut down.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Glad to see people are still posting. So far it seems my PA family is without power, but running on generators and still able to update through facebook and such.

 

[Borek]

Of those in the area Gale has not posted yet.

 

[dkotschessaa]

Power outages seem to be pretty widespread, and damages/injuries/worse not so much. So I am comfortable in assuming most of the "not-heard-froms" are due to power. Or they are still sleeping...

 

[Astronuc]

Superstorm Sandy flooded parts of the New York City subway system, rail yards and bus depots, creating what officials are calling the biggest disaster of its 108 years in existence.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/sandy-hits-ny-subway-system-hard-083550815--abc-news-topstories.html

NEW YORK (AP) — A huge fire has destroyed at least 50 homes in a flooded neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens.

More than 190 firefighters were trying to contain the blaze in the Breezy Point section and two people have suffered minor injuries, a fire department spokesman said.

. . . .

http://news.yahoo.com/least-50-flooded-houses-destroyed-nyc-fire-085028999.html

Authorities in NYCity were concerned about a 12 ft tide+surge, but the tide+surge was 14 ft.

 

[D H]

The number without power is now 7.6 million, and the storm isn't done yet. With that many without power over such an huge area, some of our members won't be back online for a week or more. Restoring power to housing is the lowest priority. Essential services such as hospitals, police stations, fire stations, and transportation come first, then big industry, then small business, and finally houses.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

This should give you an idea of the destruction to my property. Imagine if that branch had been the whole tree and that the tree were larger than it is and that it were closer to my house than it is. Oh the humanity. Your generous contributions to the Jimmy Emergency Relief Fund will enable a South Jersey family, chosen at random, to enjoy a hearty gourmet meal at a 5 star restaurant.

This pile of sticks is all that's left our our once happy one-story brick ranch.

Here's the situation about 100 yards from my house.

 

[D H]

That tree has way too many branches, and this is probably one reason why there are so many outages from this storm. The trees in the northeast haven't been trimmed to mitigate wind damage. There's a good-sized cottage industry in tree trimming in hurricane-prone areas. People charge to climb up trees to trim excess branches. The idea is to let the wind blow through the trees instead of blowing the trees over.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

That tree has way too many branches.

What's more, if you look at the base, although the tree looked fine from the outside, inside it was completely rotted away.

 

[Dembadon]

Of those in the area Gale has not posted yet.

Hopefully she's okay. However, her latest activity was last night around 10PM, so I'm guessing she was somewhere safe with power, or she logged in from a phone with web capabilities.