On Thursday, Oct. 25, forecasters noticed a hurricane coming from the Atlantic Ocean towards the Northeastern United States. On its own, Hurricane Sandy wouldn’t have posed much of a threat, but meteorologists also noticed that the hurricane was on a collision course with a winter storm from the west and cold front from the north. A combination of these three factors was capable of creating what researchers are calling a “Frankenstorm,” or a “perfect storm.” According to what forecasters predicted, this hurricane was going to be worse than anything the East coast has seen in a century.
Meteorologists said that the conditions are similar to 1991’s “perfect storm,” which inspired a book and a movie. Hurricane Grace, which was combined with a high pressure system and a cold front, had incredible force but hit a low population in New England, so did not cause too much damage. However forecasts predicted that Hurricane Sandy will likely hit New Jersey and New York, the most densely populated places in the country. Furthermore, the day Sandy was expected to hit was a full moon, which is when tides are the highest. Bringing in all these factors, damages done by this hurricane reached enormous heights.
Because it is difficult to predict the behavior of hurricanes, many prayed for the chance that it would weaken or change direction. However, Sandy was more than capable of causing coastal flooding. CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri said that “There’s a 90% chance the storm will crash into the U.S,” so the chances of the East Coast avoiding this hurricane were extremely low.
Governments in the predicted target zones began to prepare for the upcoming “Frankenstorm” early. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo directed state agencies to monitor the storm and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was urging residents to be ready to evacuate. Furthermore, Massachusetts officials issued early reports to every household to prepare for the storm.
