Extraordinary Circumstances Needed for a Historic Storm
A major storm with damaging consequences is still on the table from Norfolk to New York City and Boston. However, multiple components have to come together for the perfect storm.
The realm of possibilities continues to range from Sandy escaping out to sea, with nothing more than blustery, much cooler air sweeping in, to a dynamic storm turning inland packing coastal flooding, flooding rainfall, high winds, downed trees, power outages, travel mayhem and even Appalachian snow.
From a weather map standpoint, the worst-case scenario is for Sandy as a hurricane or hybrid storm to be captured as chilly air and strong upper-level winds join in from North America. Meteorologists refer to this as an atmospheric "bomb."
People from eastern North Carolina to Maine and Nova Scotia need to keep their guard up in case the worst-case scenario occurs.
An example of such an event includes 1991's Perfect Storm. However, as bad as it was, the worst of it remained offshore. Other October storms with a real bad attitude, which hugged the coast, were 1878's Gale, 1923's unnamed storm and 1954's Hazel.
If the assumption that the storm turns inland is correct, the worst conditions would be near and well northeast of the storm center as it moves inland. This is where the strongest winds, heaviest rain and greatest storm surge would be due to the onshore flow of high-speed moisture.
For example, a storm with hurricane strength turning inland over New York City would have tremendous impact from New York to Boston and inland to Albany, but there would likely be a sweep of dry air, gusty offshore winds and minimal concerns farther south from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
There is a another scenario that is more common. Quite simply, tropical systems and non-tropical systems do not like to join forces very often. In this case, Sandy would be more of a side show.
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