Hurricane Sandy has forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents ahead of coastal flooding due to storm surge. How bad will the storm surge be? Snow has begun falling in parts of North Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee.
Monday 11:15 a.m.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Hurricane Sandy is strengthening, and moving a little slower as it starts its turn west, according to the 11 a.m. National Hurricane Center advisroy.
Sandy now has maximum sustained winds of 90 mph, up from 85 mph at the 8 a.m.
It has slowed its north-northwestern movement from 20 mph, to 18 mph. And is expected to make landfall this evening "just south of the Southern New Jersey coast."
Monday 10:50 am
If high winds and storm surge weren't enough, several states are now experiencing snow as Sandy mixes with the low pressure ridge along the East Coast, in the Appalachian range, some higher elevations of North Carolina and Tennessee are already getting snow.
?And the National Weather Service expect blizzard conditions in some higher elevations of West Virginia.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON WV
625 AM EDT MON OCT 29 2012
...FIRST WINTER STORM IS A BLIZZARD FOR THE HIGH TERRAIN...
.THE REMAINS OF HURRICANE SANDY WILL COMBINE WITH AN UPPER LEVEL
LOW TO PRODUCE HEAVY SNOW AND STRONG WINDS ACROSS THE MOUNTAINOUS
COUNTIES.
...BLIZZARD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 4 PM EDT
WEDNESDAY...
* LOCATIONS...VERY ELEVATION DEPENDENT WITH THE BEST CHANCES
? ACROSS HIGH TERRAIN...BUT CAN NOT BE RULED OUT IN THE VALLEYS.
* HAZARD TYPES...HEAVY WET SNOW...AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS.
* SNOW ACCUMULATIONS...RANGING FROM 1 TO 6 INCHES BELOW 2000
? FEET...TO 1 TO 3 FEET ABOVE 3000 FEET.
At 8 a.m. snow was falling in Boone, N.C., according to?WRAL.com.
In the Great Smokey Mountains, there are reports that 6.5 inches had fallen in places and that Highway 441 near the Newfound Gap was now closed. The headline on?Knoxnews.com:
"Snow from 'Frankenstorm' already hitting Smokies; 441 closed."
The National Weather Service report for Morristown, Tenn. in eastern Tennessee, has a Winter Storm Warning through Wednesday morning. The report includes:
_ A deep plume of moister will move over the spine of the Appalacians, result in in the potential for rain showers and snow showers in the valleys and some locally heavier snowfall across the higher elevations.
- Gusty northwesterly winds associated with this strengthening storm system will increase to 25-35 mph, and may gust up to 40-50 mph across the mountains.
The greatest potential for significant snowfall will be along the higher mountains ? with 6-12 inches possible above 3,000 feet.
But the National Hurricane Center is still predicting larger snowfalls in some areas of the Appalachians.
SNOWFALL..SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 2 TO 3 FEET ARE EXPECTED IN THEMOUNTAINS OF WEST VIRGINIA WITH LOCALLY HIGHER TOTALS TODAY THROUGHWEDNESDAY. SNOWFALL OF 1 TO 2 FEET IS EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS OFSOUTHWESTERN VIRGINIA TO THE KENTUCKY BORDER...WITH 12 TO 18 INCHESOF SNOW EXPECTED IN THE MOUNTAINS NEAR THE NORTH CAROLINA/TENNESSEEBORDER AND IN THE MOUNTAINS OF WESTERN MARYLAND.
Atlantic City flooding as storm surge begins
Monday 9:10 a.m.
With the arrival of the morning high tide, flooding has begun in the streets of Atlantic City. There are unconfirmed reports that parts of Atlantic City's boardwalk have collapsed.
In Atlantic City, winds are gusting to tropical storm strength. All 12 casinos were shut down at 4 p.m. Sunday after Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency for the entire state.
By 7:30 a.m., the streets immediately around the new Revel casino and hotel were covered with more than a foot of water, witnesses said.
Parts of Black Horse Pike in West Atlantic City, Route 30 and Route 9 in Absecon, Route 559 in Somers Point and Route 322 in Hamilton are already flooded, county officials said. Roads in Hamilton Township and Mays Landing were also impassable, reports NJ.com.
In Cape May the ocean has also breached the main oceanfront drive, Ocean Avenue, near the city's southern end, the Associated Press reports
New Jersey is also seeing power outages. As of 3:30 a.m., PSE&G is reporting 829 customers without power due to the early effects of Hurricane Sandy. Of that total, 794 of the outages are located in Deptford Township in Gloucester County. As of 5 a.m., JCP&L reported about 5,000 customers without power in Burlington and Ocean county, including more than 4,000 in Toms River, reports NJ.com.
RECOMMENDED: Five ways to prep for a hurricane
Monday 8:40 am.
The National Hurricane Center 8 a.m. report indicates that Hurricane Sandy is now starting to pick up speed (moving at 20 mph) and turn west. The blocking high pressure area in the north Atlantic will send Sandy on a sharper turn toward the coast later Monday morning.
Air Force hurricane hunter aircraft have clocked Sandy's sustained winds at 85 mph, with higher gusts, as far as way as 175 miles from the eye of the hurricane. As we've said this is a BIG storm. Tropical storm force winds (above 39 mph) extend almost 500 miles from the center of the storm. That means tropical force winds are now pummeling the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, and Easter Virginia.
From the National Hurricane Center report: WIND...TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS...OR GALE FORCE WINDS...ARE ALREADY OCCURRING OVER PORTIONS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC STATES FROM NORTH
CAROLINA NORTHWARD TO LONG ISLAND.? GALE FORCE WINDS ARE EXPECTED
TO CONTINUE TO SPREAD OVER OTHER PORTIONS OF THE MID-ATLANTIC
COAST...NEW YORK CITY...AND SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND LATER THIS
MORNING.? WINDS OF HURRICANE FORCE COULD REACH THE MID-ATLANTIC
STATES...INCLUDING NEW YORK CITY AND LONG ISLAND...LATER TODAY.
WINDS AFFECTING THE UPPER FLOORS OF HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS WILL BE
SIGNIFICANTLY STRONGER THAN THOSE NEAR GROUND LEVEL.
Storm Surge Outlook
?Monday 8:15 a.m.
As predicted, Hurricane Sandy has strengthened in the last 24 hours. It has begun it's turn toward the? East Coast. The barometric pressure has dropped to record levels, the winds have picked up to about 85 miles per hour, and Sandy has grown in size. Sandy now spans 1,000 miles. While it's still at least 300 miles from landfall, tropical storm strength winds (sustained winds above 39 mph) are already being felt on shore.
Record storm surges are expected, which is why hundreds of thousands of residents from Maryland to Connecticut were ordered to leave low-lying coastal areas. Some 375,000 people were ordered to leave lower Manhattan and other parts of New York City.
NOAA and the National Hurricane Center are predicting storm surges of 6-11 feet in the New York City area. How bad is that? For context, during Hurricane Irene last year, the storm surge at Battery Park hit 4.4 feet. The maximum surge during Irene was 4.5 feet in the New York City area, at Kings Point.
Currently, the storm surge is already at 4 feet at Kings Point, according to the Weather Channel.
Here's the National Hurricane Center 8 a.m. outlook on storm surge:
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 CAPE COD TO THE MA/NH BORDER INCLUDING CAPE COD BAY...2 TO 4 FT MA/NH BORDER TO THE U.S./CANADA BORDER...1 TO 3 FT
Check out the predicted storm surge map at Wundergrund.com.
SEE YESTERDAY'S HURRICANE SANDY LIVEBLOG: SUNDAY OCT. 28
RECOMMENDED: Are you scientifically literate? Take the quiz
att wireless nfl nfl Mother Jones cars Bacon Number Kate Middleton photos
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.