(Sandy was not a hurricane when it hit the northeast in 2012)
Unpossible, I was assured repeatedly that Sandy was a “superstorm” and that we were doomed.
Unpossible, I was assured repeatedly that Sandy was a “superstorm” and that we were doomed.
Sandy being technically referred to as a hurricane or not a hurricane when it made landfall in NJ is still a matter of debate and controversy among some meteorologists.
Sandy certainly was a hurricane in the Caribbean, a Cat 3 storm at one point, but it fluctuated in strength as it moved up the east coast, at one point becoming rather weak tropical storm before strengthening back to hurricane status for a time.
Technically Sandy lost its “tropical” characteristics when it started pulling in cold air from a stalled cold front over the Appalachian Mountains shortly before making landfall but rather than weakening the storm, it actually grew in size and intensity, not in wind strength but in its low pressure center and size. At this point, it was no longer being fed by warm ocean waters (so technically no longer a hurricane) but feeding off the contrast of the collision of warm and cold air. That’s why some refer to it as an extra-tropical storm.
At this point the storm was more like a classic Nor’easter but yet still had some hurricane like characteristics as well; “post-tropical cyclone Sandy” is probably the most technically accurate classification. But the problem with that classification was that the NWS dropped hurricane warnings for the NE coast and those along the NJ coast who had “hurricane” insurance were not able to collect as many insurance companies denied claims saying that since it wasn’t according to the NWS a “hurricane”, so many of the policy holders couldn’t collect.
But whatever it is classified as; a hurricane, a Nor’easter, a hybrid storm or “a perfect storm” (comparable to the 1991 storm made famous by the movie which mostly blew off the coast and did not make a direct landfall in New England but still caused millions of dollars in damage) it was huge in size and pushed a whole lot of water out in front of it. It also caused substantial snowfalls, some areas of West Virginia got over 3 feet of snow in a very short amount of time.
http://fox6now.com/2013/10/29/what-was-superstorm-sandy/
While you may not have been “doomed” from this storm where you live, FWIW, I have relatives and friends who were living in NJ and NY and working in NYC, in lower Manhattan at the time. I know some folks who lost their homes, some who also lost their shore homes and some who lost their businesses – complete losses. My cousin who was working in the North World Trade Tower in both 1993 and on 9/11, had his current workplace flooded out because of Sandy and couldn’t get back to work for over two weeks. Fortunately his home was spared.