Super Storm Sandy One Year Later

One year ago today, a hybrid storm called Super Storm Sandy hit the North East with high winds and an extreme storm surge. Usually when a nor’ easter or hurricane hits this area it stays just offshore or makes landfall in Long Island and moves north or north east.

Super Storm Sandy

 

With Sandy, this did not happen. A blocking high pressure area to the north and east of the region blocked the system and forced it to do the unthinkable and head right into the Jersey coast.

 

It was not just the track of Sandy that caused all the destruction; it was also the structure of the storm. Sandy was a hybrid system that was tropical in nature inside and a nor’ Easter outside. The storm had a tremendous span of nearly 1000 miles. When the system made landfall, it produced tropical like conditions in the New Jersey New York area and high snowfall amounts in the Appalachians. This is something that has never happened in history.

 

I think that part of the reason that so many people stayed behind and did not evacuate is because of the way the NHC was issuing advisories on the system. Even though the system was partly tropical, hurricane warnings were not issued because the system was technically not considered a hurricane. It was not until the storm was almost there that full evacuation orders were issued. This was way too late to evacuate that many people. Soon after, the NHC reviewed the way the warnings were issued and a determination was made that if a system goes from tropical to hybrid again, full tropical storm or hurricane warnings will be used to illustrate the intensity of the storm.

 

I think most people thought this was going to be another Irene or just a bad nor’easter. Nobody expected to see the damage that was done by this storm.

 

Today, recovery efforts are still underway and lots of progress has been made. If another system like Sandy should ever head towards this region, I think people will be more prepared and I am sure that everybody will leave when evacuation orders are given.

Could it ever occur again? Most meteorologists agree that these conditions could in fact come together again at some point in the future.

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