Hurricane Sandy - Some Thoughts

As I just shared on my Twitter feed, I cannot recall a forecast for a storm to hook off the Atlantic and then make a beeline for the New Jersey shore. Hurricanes in this area, including Irene last year, usually move over us in a south to north direction, not east to west like Sandy is currently forecast to do. And they usually move pretty fast once they reach us.

What is most scary at this moment is that this storm is forecast to actually be stronger than the Perfect Storm, the 1991 storm featured in the movie, and it is expected to move over us very slowly.

If the storm does actually follow this forecasted track, it could be devastating for the Long Island, NYC metro area, especially anywhere along the coast lines. And, because this storm is forecast to not move very fast and hover for a couple of days over the area, wind damage could be extensive as many trees, which still have their leaves, begin to fall.

The 1938 Long Island Express storm

I grew up on the south shore of Long Island, in Nassau County, and while we had many hurricane scares over the years, none ended up being as bad as some of the most dire forecasts. The same goes for Irene last year. So, it's understandable that many local residents might not take Sandy seriously, thinking it, too, will fizzle out as it approaches and not be as bad as they are warning.

Historically speaking, however, our area has been overdue for quite some time for a major hurricane-like storm of the magnitude of the famous Long Island Express storm of September, 1938. It could be that after years of warnings, Sandy might be the first to actually rival that historic storm and bring our area that once in a century event.