Hurricane Sandy to bring major impacts to much of the Northeast

As we continue to draw closer to the end of the weekend and beginning of next week confidence continues to rapidly increase that much of the East coast, from the Carolina's up through New England will be experiencing extreme issues.  While technically Sandy may be classified as a strong Tropical Storm or weak Hurricane by the time she gets up this way DO NOT and I stress DO NOT take that as this being any less extreme.  Strong blocking in the northern Atlantic will help prevent Sandy from escaping out to sea and keep her closer to the East Coast.  At the same time the Polar Jet working through the central US will rapidly amplify developing a very deep trough.  Computer models indicate Sandy will phase "combine" with this Polar Jet/Trough and once this occurs Sandy will undergo rapid intensification.

Sandy will create extreme issues up and down the East Coast with extremely damaging coastal flooding/beach erosion, very strong/damaging winds, widespread power outages, and numerous tree/power line damage.

For us here in southern New England there remain two possible scenarios;

1) Over the past few days there has been a set of computer models which have Sandy making landfall around the Delmarva or even as far south as MD.  In this scenario the worst conditions across southern New England would be across the coast where serious coastal flooding would occur along with very strong wind gusts leading to tree/power line damage across the coastal Plain.  Further inland, the effects would be much more minimal, besides heavy rain and isolated flash flooding winds would be a non-issue with the exception of a few strong gusts potentially leading to isolated power outages.

2) There is another camp of computer models which have Sandy making landfall further north, possibly as far north as NYC/western LI area or northeastern NJ.  This would be the worse case scenario for southern New England.  In this scenario we would be looking at extreme coastal flooding/beach erosion posing a threat to building close to the water.  There would be widespread damaging winds; both sustained and gusts, leading to widespread power outages and tree/power line damage.  We'd be looking at a several hour or more period of very intense winds.

Of these two scenarios which should we expect?  Unfortunately computer models seem to be converging on solution number two.  It's becoming quite apparent that a landfall further north will end up being the outcome and this would pose a significant risk to much of southern New England.  While it's still very possible a further south landfall occurs everyone should begin (if not already) preparing for a very damaging storm.  Anyone living close to the coast should evacuate as the risk for coastal flooding could pose a threat to lives.  With the potential for a prolonged period of damaging winds everyone should stock up on extra non-perishable food items, water, batteries, flashlights, and radios.  While the less extreme solution could certainly verify it's much better to be fully prepared now rather than being caught off guard.

By tomorrow evening more specifics will be given, especially with regards to how strong we can expect the winds to be.