All eyes are on the New Jersey coast tonight as Hurricane Sandy makes landfall. It was really all anyone is talking about today, so I thought it was appropriate that I would write about this rare late October storm tonight.
Scads of journalists and meteorologists are covering the story so it would be superfluous for me to recount the details here. Suffice to say, the convergence of a hurricane making landfall near New York City, high tides, a full moon, an approaching cold front and a blast of arctic air will ensure that Hurricane Sandy will be one of those historic storms that people are still talking about for years to come.
As the situation continues to unfold, here are a few websites you can visit for the latest details…or can consult your favorite news sources for the information.
It’s interesting how quickly this news story has washed away other stories from the front page. The Giants’ clinching of the World Series on Sunday night was quickly relegated to the ‘old news’ category; the election, which is coming down to the wire, has been forced into a holding pattern until we see just how much damage Sandy inflicts.
Ironic, isn’t it, after weeks of speculation about what sort of October Surprise this election cycle would see. Turns out that Super Storm Sandy IS the October Surprise.
On a personal note, it didn’t take long at all to list at least a half dozen people we know who are in the path of the storm.
Holly’s friend, Liz (the one she visited on fall break a couple weeks ago) posted on Facebook that her college (located in WV) is shutting things down for a couple days. The mountains of WV and western MD may get a foot (or more) of snow when the tropical moisture mixes with the wintery air.
A man I work with was talking about how his young son, who recently relocated to D.C., was making preparations (including stockpiling provisions to get through the next few days) to ride out the storm.
Up the coast near Philly, my friend Jim and his family are hunkering down waiting for Sandy to pass. Jim and I coached baseball together, here, before he was transferred back to the mid-Atlantic region. Our prayers for his family – and everyone in the storm’s wake.
The list goes on and on.
I’ve always loved the Eastern Seaboard. We’ve frequently visited so many of them. I think about places we’ve been over the last few years – from the Outer Banks of N.C., to Times Square and places in between. All of those places will feel the effects of this storm.
Our prayer is that the preparations of state and local governments and the good common sense of citizens in the area will keep the majority of folks safe and out of harm’s way tonight and in the days to come.
JG
(Source: weather.com)
Originally posted 10/2
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