debor046

Much has been or will be written about Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy.   The impacts are still being assessed and it may be weeks before we have the full picture.   It was an historic and unprecedented storm.   NASA has put together a wonderful video of Sandy from its development as a tropical depression to its transformation to a superstorm and finally a weaker system.   The time period covered here is from October 23 to 31. However, an even better video covering the period October 25 to 31 was produced by NOAA NESDIS.   These rapid scan images were produced into a time-lapse movie as an experiment using the GOES-14 image.   The images are using visible light with a one kilometer resolution. Movie credit: NOAA/CIMSS at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Sandy is too large a storm to be viewed entirely at this resolution.   The view is centered on the central core and extends out a few hundred miles.   It begins in the central Bahamas as a hurrican...

Update: 10 p.m. EDT Sandy ma de landfall about 5 miles southwest of Atlantic City, New Jersey around 8 p.m. E DT.  It came a shore as an extratropical cyclone as Sandy made a quick transition during the late afternoon.  The storm still had sus tained winds up to 8 0 mph and was moving west-northwest at 21 mph.  Sandy slowed as it moved in land and m ay slow some more over the next few hours. The windfield around Sandy as of 9 p.m. EDT, October 29, 2012.  Click on the image for a la rger view.  Image Credit: NOAA. Not ice the area col ored in yellow.  Th ese are winds in the range of 45 to 60 mph.  This is a very large area of high winds and it is pushing w ater into New Y ork harbor due to the southeast winds.  It produced a re cord flo od for lower Manhattan. Sandy continue s to move inland and was near Wilmington , Delawar e as of 10 p.m. ED T.  Inland winds of 40 to 50 mph were common.  This heaviest rains w ere now south and west ...

The upper-level trough that has been moving through the central part of the U.S. is beginning to affect Hurricane Sandy.   It is moving east and energy will be moving into the base of the trough that will cause to tilt negatively.   Initially this will push the hurricane to the northeast.   However, as the trough gets close and the upper-level winds back, Sandy will turn north and then westward moving inland in the Northeast. The 500 mb analysis for Friday evening October 26, 2012.  Click on the image for a larger view.  Image Credit: WSI. Wind shear has been increasing over the hurricane and it is beginning to resemble a hybrid system.   A warm core typical of the tropical cyclone is in place, but the center does not have a ring of thunderstorms surrounding it.   NASA imagery showed the thunderstorms displaced to the north Friday evening. Satellite image of Hurricane Sandy at 0240z October 27, 2012.  Click on the image for a larger view. ...

In the previous post, which was written on Sunday, I described a scenario that would play out over the next 7 to 10 days.   The details often change significantly at those time frames.   However, the computer models have done a reasonably good job at the overall weather pattern.   The model which has performed the best in my opinion has been the European model at the medium-range.   Now most of the models are clustered toward a similar solution, although the American model (GFS) continues to show some strange results. The overall pattern is a negatively tilted trough pushing into the eastern part of the country and picking up the northward moving hurricane.   As the two interact Sandy will transform from a tropical cyclone to a nor’easter.   The wind will greatly expand and the storm may become a monster worthy of a Halloween trick.   Sandy will weaken as a hurricane, but may strengthen as a nor’easter before moving into Northeast. The 500mb forecast ...