Sandy Cheeks

[Magmar]

Oh, dear, we're in for a hell of a storm.

What are you doing to prepare?? Jeff, I'm looking in your general direction.

We should make predictions about where it will hit...

My guess is Long Island and Connecticut.

[MToolen]

Stay safe out there. The only weather we have to complain about here in STL is temperature swings- high in the 80's yesterday, low in the 30's tonight. Brr.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I hope everyone'll be all right! Stay though!

[Jeff]

The local Kmart was almost completely devoid of flashlights and batteries. Preparations have been made though. My brother's girlfriend reserved some batteries for us at the store she works at, and we already have flashlights (Believe it or not, they're reusable! Can't really tell that by how fast they've been selling). We also have two radios that don't require plugging in. One is hand-cranked, and the other one is either crank or battery-powered, not sure. We also now have a hand pump to clear the sump pit (during Isabel and Irene we had to manually bail it out with buckets). I topped off my gas tank before my recent trip to NoVa, so that's still pretty good. My phone is charged, and we also have a battery-powered inverter to run the router and modem so we can still get Internet access during the outage (for emergency *cough Facebook* purposes, of course). And last, but certainly not least, my 3DS is fully charged.

But the crazy thing about this storm is its path. Most storms that hit us pass through NC first. This one's staying off the coast, and it's set to plow into Delaware and Maryland before ripping up the middle of Pennsylvania. And speaking of crazy, it's funny how people react to the governor declaring one little state of emergency...

[DarkestLight]

Screw Long Island. Hope it gets washed away :/ Really dun like it.

[Magmar]

Screw Long Island. Hope it gets washed away :/ Really dun like it.

LOL.

It's such a beautiful day today. 65 degrees. Sunny. Everything is finally colorful... we're usually the last to fall and the first to spring in this city

You'd never guess a hurricane was coming.

---

I bought bottled water and food that doesn't require preparation today, also got all the booze we needed to make Hurricanes! (Okay, I only needed the rum, but now we're going to spend our days off with no power drinking Hurricanes and enjoying Mudslides while getting Screwed by White Russians.) XD

What I'm kinda nervous about... My literature review for my thesis is due Tuesday. If we lose power Sunday night, howwww will I finish it????

[DarkestLight]

Naa yo, gotta remember, I'm from Manhattan. We don't tolerate Long Island unless its a drink.

[Magmar]

We don't tolerate Long Island unless it's a bev here in Rhode Island, either.

......and we do refer to them as "bevs"

[Asilynne]

I could use some Manhattans and Long Islands right now @.@ I can't sleep yet again :/

[kurai]

[Blademaster]

This is why I'm glad I live on a mountain nowadays. Power outages are more fequent but at least I don't have to worry about the yard being underwater when I wake up anymore...

[Dark Sage]

The last big hurricane shut down the subways in this city, and I was stuck at work for three days.

I had a chance to go home, but like a fool, I volunteered to stay. And all I got for it was time and a half for one shift.

Fortunately, the governor of New York won't make a final decision on that for this one until tomorrow, and if he decides to do it, it will be long before I have to go to work. So I won't have to worry about getting stuck.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I just tried to catch the news on television and hear about the hurricane's effect but they said nothing about it. Only home country news. And Syria.

:cryingfinn:

[Perfect Chaos]

Had to deal with random power surges here and there for the past few days, with the occasional increase in winds and rain, but as you can see, completely passing by Florida without making landfall. Heard the Northeast is gonna be slammed with rain, snow AND hail.

Talk about a triple whammy :O

[Telume]

Eh, it had some effect here in Florida, just got some Wind and Rain. I heard on the news that some area (WAAAAAAAAAY south of me) had power knocked out.

Other than that we're perfectly fine here.

As for the North East well, I think this picture says it all:

[Magmar]

Batten all the hatches.

Actually, download some Clock Town remix music and put it on your mp3 player. Go to the grocery store. Lol at will.

[kurai]

...SANDY EXPECTED TO BRING LIFE-THREATENING STORM SURGE FLOODING TO
THE MID-ATLANTIC COAST...INCLUDING LONG ISLAND SOUND AND NEW YORK
HARBOR...
...WINDS EXPECTED TO BE NEAR HURRICANE FORCE AT LANDFALL...

[...]

WIND...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE ALREADY OCCURRING OVER COASTAL
NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTHEASTERN VIRGINIA. GALE FORCE WINDS ARE
EXPECTED TO ARRIVE ALONG PORTIONS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC COAST LATER
TODAY...AND REACH LONG ISLAND AND SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND BY MONDAY
MORNING. WINDS OF HURRICANE FORCE COULD REACH THE MID-ATLANTIC
STATES...INCLUDING LONG ISLAND...BY LATE MONDAY.

STORM SURGE...THE COMBINATION OF AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS STORM SURGE
AND THE TIDE WILL CAUSE NORMALLY DRY AREAS NEAR THE COAST TO BE
FLOODED BY RISING WATERS. THE WATER COULD REACH THE FOLLOWING
DEPTHS ABOVE GROUND IF THE PEAK SURGE OCCURS AT THE TIME OF HIGH
TIDE...

NC NORTH OF SURF CITY INCLUDING PAMLICO/ALBEMARLE SOUNDS...4 TO 6 FT
SE VA AND DELMARVA INCLUDING LOWER CHESAPEAKE BAY...2 TO 4 FT
UPPER AND MIDDLE CHESAPEAKE BAY...1 TO 3 FT
LONG ISLAND SOUND...RARITAN BAY...AND NEW YORK HARBOR...6 TO 11 FT
ELSEWHERE FROM OCEAN CITY MD TO THE CT/RI BORDER...4 TO 8 FT
CT/RI BORDER TO THE SOUTH SHORE OF CAPE COD INCLUDING BUZZARDS
BAY AND NARRAGANSETT BAY...3 TO 6 FT

SURGE-RELATED FLOODING DEPENDS ON THE RELATIVE TIMING OF THE SURGE
AND THE TIDAL CYCLE...AND CAN VARY GREATLY OVER SHORT DISTANCES.
GIVEN THE LARGE WIND FIELD ASSOCIATED WITH SANDY...ELEVATED WATER
LEVELS COULD SPAN MULTIPLE TIDE CYCLES RESULTING IN REPEATED AND
EXTENDED PERIODS OF COASTAL AND BAYSIDE FLOODING. IN ADDITION...
ELEVATED WATERS COULD OCCUR FAR REMOVED FROM THE CENTER OF SANDY.
FURTHERMORE...THESE CONDITIONS WILL OCCUR REGARDLESS OF WHETHER
SANDY IS A TROPICAL OR POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE. FOR INFORMATION
SPECIFIC TO YOUR AREA...PLEASE SEE PRODUCTS ISSUED BY YOUR LOCAL
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE.

RAINFALL...RAINFALL TOTALS OF 3 TO 6 INCHES ARE EXPECTED OVER FAR
NORTHEASTERN NORTH CAROLINA WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM TOTALS OF 8
INCHES POSSIBLE. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 4 TO 8 INCHES ARE EXPECTED
OVER PORTIONS OF THE MID ATLANTIC STATES...INCLUDING THE DELMARVA
PENINSULA...WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS OF 12 INCHES POSSIBLE.
RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES WITH ISOLATED MAXIMUM AMOUNTS
OF 5 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE FROM THE SOUTHERN TIER OF NEW YORK STATE
NORTHEASTWARD THROUGH NEW ENGLAND.

[kurai]

@alastormspotter: #HurricaneSandy is now the largest hurricane in Atlantic basin history, measured by diameter of gale force winds. 1,040 miles.

[kurai]

that noaa advisory seems to almost underplay potential conditions

Last night's 9:30 pm EDT H*Wind analysis from NOAA's Hurricane Research Division put the destructive potential of Sandy's winds at a modest 2.6 on a scale of 0 to 6. However, the destructive potential of the storm surge was exceptionally high: 5.7 on a scale of 0 to 6. This is a higher destructive potential than any hurricane observed between 1969 - 2005, including Category 5 storms like Katrina, Rita, Wilma, Camille, and Andrew. The previous highest destructive potential for storm surge was 5.6 on a scale of 0 to 6, set during Hurricane Isabel of 2003. Sandy is now forecast to bring a near-record storm surge of 6 - 11 feet to Northern New Jersey and Long Island Sound, including the New York City Harbor. While Sandy's storm surge will be nowhere near as destructive as Katrina's, the storm surge does have the potential to cause many billions of dollars in damage if it hits near high tide at 9 pm EDT on Monday. The full moon is on Monday, which means astronomical high tide will be about 5% higher than the average high tide for the month. This will add another 2 - 3" to water levels. Fortunately, Sandy is now predicted to make a fairly rapid approach to the coast, meaning that the peak storm surge will not affect the coast for multiple high tide cycles. Sandy's storm surge will be capable of overtopping the flood walls in Manhattan, which are only five feet above mean sea level. On August 28, 2011, Tropical Storm Irene brought a storm surge of 4.13' to Battery Park on the south side of Manhattan. The waters poured over the flood walls into Lower Manhattan, but came 8 - 12" shy of being able to flood the New York City subway system. According to the latest storm surge forecast for NYC from NHC, Sandy's storm surge is expected to be several feet higher than Irene's. If the peak surge arrives near Monday evening's high tide at 9 pm EDT, a portion of New York City's subway system could flood, resulting in billions of dollars in damage. I give a 50% chance that Sandy's storm surge will end up flooding a portion of the New York City subway system.

An excellent September 2012 article in the New York Times titled, "New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn" quoted Dr. Klaus H. Jacob, a research scientist at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, on how lucky New York City got with Hurricane Irene. If the storm surge from Irene had been just one foot higher, "subway tunnels would have flooded, segments of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive and roads along the Hudson River would have turned into rivers, and sections of the commuter rail system would have been impassable or bereft of power," he said, and the subway tunnels under the Harlem and East Rivers would have been unusable for nearly a month, or longer, at an economic loss of about $55 billion. Dr. Jacob is an adviser to the city on climate change, and an author of the 2011 state study that laid out the flooding prospects. “We’ve been extremely lucky,” he said. “I’m disappointed that the political process hasn’t recognized that we’re playing Russian roulette.”

[Magmar]

kurai, you make my inner weather nerd squee.

[Jeff]

It's eerily dreary outside. It's been cloudy since Friday and we're just starting to get a slight sprinkling.

A New Jersey landfall seems to be the most likely scenario (feel free to get whatever Snooki jokes out of you system that you can), but some are still talking about the possibility of a Delmarva landfall. Of course, where it makes landfall is pretty much irrelevant at this point given the sheer size of this thing. If you live anywhere in the Northeast or Mid-Atlantic states, you're basically screwed.

[Magmar]

@Kurai I looked into what you said about the size of the storm and it's inaccurate to assume that the storm is 1,040 miles across... the 520 miles of wind expanse is only in one direction. From the center to points northeast, the storm is 520 miles across; from the center to points southwest, the storm is about 320 miles, equaling a total of 840 miles in diameter, not 1,040.

It's still huge and getting much much larger though.

Oh, dear, Bear lives in Jersey! Don't die, you're too pretty.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...st_in_diameter
BTW

And
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/wea...ml?entrynum=38
This blog entry really strikes home how much Rhode Island gets buttsecksed by hurricanes.

[Telume]

Don't worry dude, you'll be fine. Just, don't go outside.

Cat. 1 CAN be bad, but generally it's only "bad" 'cause the media oversensionalize it.

Trust me, a Cat. 1 is NOTHING compared to a Cat. 3 or higher.

From what I got of the storm, this one just has a lot of rain.

You might get flooding, but that's about it.

[Jeff]

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick...31101405468752

[Magmar]

...to buy batteries XD

[Telume]

When the storm finally comes:

[Magmar]

I just got back from the beach... waves were crazy, legs are still cold from the ocean LOL.

[Asilynne]

Its so dark outside... I'm on cal for work because of the weather so I'm dreading this pos hurricane lol

[ChobiChibi]

Good luck guys! Stay safe, and I hope it doesn't cause too much damage and destruction.

[Jeff]

I'm on call too. Yeah pretty sure I'm not going anywhere though.

As predicted, Sandy is morphing into Franeknstorm, and has already claimed a pretty major victim: a well-known pier in Ocean City, MD.

Miraculously, we still have power. Trying to charge all or our electronics right now because we have no idea how long that'll last. It could very well go out shortly. If that's the case, see you all when it comes back on!

Edit: Ah, one of my favorite hurricane traditions: complete randomness in the middle of the storm. http://dcist.com/2012/10/shirtless_m...se_mask_wi.php

[Magmar]

It's really dark here, and being on the northeast side of the storm, all the storm surge and tornado risk are belong to me

[Jeff]

For us, we're going to be worrying about the duration. Landfall is probably going to be somewhere around Cape May (The southern tip of New Jersey), and after moving on land, it's going to hang around a bit before moving on. So the mid-Atlantic region is going to get it pretty bad. Once the power goes out, who knows how long it'll be before the crews will be able to get it back on.

[kurai]

[kurai]

there is no escape





last night:

[kurai]

now:

[Dark Sage]

I live in NYC. I have been seeing rain since noon. Nothing else.

Here are two messages that I've seen on a New York blog.

1 hour ago:

I'm expecting death and devastation to be brought about by Sandy over the next 36 hours, but if this is really hyped up (again) by the media and meteorologists like they did for Irene, then I just can't pay attention to what they say about natural disasters anymore. At that point, all evacuation orders in the future will be staunchly rejected and refused.

15 minutes ago:

Been keeping very close eye for every 20 minutes since yesterday. This Storm is much more weaker than it was yesterday as you can see most of the hurricanes cloud dying off to the east. This storm is not to be takin for granted but it was overhyped with the stupidity of most forecasters saying the eye was going straight north into NYC. Well look at the path now.

I'm beginning to think that once again, they overestimated just how dangerous this storm system was going to be.

[Telume]

@Dark Sage: I had a friend posting on FB that the media was driving her crazy with the oversensationalizing.

It's nothing out of this world, it's just a storm.

Just do what you got to do and you'll be fine.

People only really die in these things for 2 reasons:

1. They didn't really prepare all that well. (Especially if the storm is stronger than this one)

2. They're stupid (Like, GO OUTSIDE.)

[Dark Sage]

This is a sheep-in-wolf's clothing. Just like last time.

[kurai]

yeah there are areas with 90-100% chance of 6 foot+ storm surges

you have to not be in these areas to be safe

but if you are basing the weakness of the storm on current conditions, idk

a) it's not there yet
b) northeast of the eye is the worst for surges
c) high tide isn't until 9pm
d) flooding is the top cause of storm-related deaths and damage

a 6-12 foot flood isn't the apocalypse but would be obviously problematic if people went about normally

[Blademaster]

Amateur video footage of the storm outside the New York Public Library.