Hurricane Sandy - Looking Back One Year Later

[IsentropicLift]

On October 22, 2012 a tropical depression formed in the southern Caribbean Sea. This depression would soon intensify into Hurricane Sandy and made its first landfall in Jamaica. Although the land interaction disrupted the core, Sandy quickly reorganized into its peak intensity of cat 3 (115MPH max sustained winds) before a second landfall on eastern Cuba a couple days later. Sandy then tracked almost due north before a combination of very strong blocking and a phase with a system moving through the TN Valley which caused a highly anomalous left hook into the extreme southern NJ coastline.  

 

Sandy is the second most costly Hurricane in US history (Second to only Katrina) and caused 285 fatalities worldwide. It contained a very large wind field and her shear size was an enormous nearly 1000 miles wide.

 

Although Sandy was officially declared extra-tropical a few hours prior to landfall, that didn't stop the sub 950mb storm from bringing widespread coastal flooding and wind damage to the mid-Atlantic and northeast states. The hardest hit regions were the coastal sections of NJ and NY however the wrath of Sandy was felt hundreds of miles inland.

 

Sandy will live in infamy for many of us. As weather enthusiasts many of us wished that we would see such a storm in our live times. Well....some of us got our wish. Sandy is the storm that changed lives forever.

 

[wx.1028]

I for one will never forget the impact that sandy left behind. The winds were just incredible for this area, and watching transformers explode lighting up the night sky was just amazing. It felt as if I was in a war zone.

[Weathergun]

This was the 0z ECMWF 144hr forecast from a year ago today.

 

[jm1220]

This was the 0z ECMWF 144hr forecast from a year ago today.

 

When it started appearing on the map and stayed there for a few days and saw the ingredients in place, you knew it would be devastating for the people it would hit hardest. Imagine the Perfect Storm making landfall in 1991 and then essentially double its intensity (Sandy was low 940s, Perfect Storm 1991 was low 970s). It looked for a couple of days like the storm might stay out at sea longer and hit New England harder, but I remember the scared feeling I had when the storm turned west that morning and knew that the Tri-State area was in for the worst impacts. The aftermath and impacts also were worse than anticipated, even with the "Frankenstorm" declarations and such, due to striking at high tide. In my town the storm tide reached almost 11 feet (surge was near 8 feet).

[Guest Imperator]

Thanks for starting this thread. Sandy impacted my life in ways I never thought weather would be able to. I live in Howard Beach, Queens which despite not being a Jersey Shore or Rockaway Beach, experienced a storm surge never before seen in our town, even by 60 year long residents. I experienced Gloria as a 9 year old kid and thought it was "cool" that a hurricane was hitting us all the way up north and we got a day off from school. Our street was flooded got about a foot of water and a few trees fell. I actually felt disappointed back then that the winds weren't as strong in my area as I had seen on TV with other hurricanes in Florida. Over the years, I experienced many noreasters, blizzards and  thought they were all interesting. Even Irene in 2011 was not so bad for us.

 

Then came Sandy, many in our area thought it would be as with Gloria or Irene: a few trees down, maybe a foot of water in the street during high tide and scattered power outages. Howard Beach wasnt even in a Zone A evac zone. All seemed to be as predicted until 7:30pm on the 29th. The water was slowly rising, as was expected, but within a half hour, the water levels outside were exceeding anything we had ever experienced Long story short, my basement was flooded and cars were destroyed. Luckily no one was hurt and my main living space on the 1st and 2nd floors was far elevated off the street. We were without power for 10 long days and the gas shortage issues made things worse. After 2 weeks, things slowly returned to normal, we got new cars and started repairs. All things considered we were more fortunate than others in terms of physical damage. However, coping with the emotional toll still endures with me to this day. Following weather went from a fun side interest to an anxiety filled endeavor. Even looking at the Euro model image above gives me the chills.  Yes, I got professional help and such and am coping, but its a long road back.  This is a tough week for me remembering what happened last year.

[earthlight]

I have assembled a page with images, data, etc from the storm. If there is anything you guys would like to see or think is missing, let me know. Tons of archived model images are there as well.

 

http://www.nymetroweather.com/hurricane-sandy-archive/

[PB GFI]

While I live in Monmouth County and there are plenty of awful memories that are hard to shake,  I will never forget the Michael Bloombergs Sunday mornings press conference , declaring NYC  and it`s schools were open ,and everyone should go about there business as usual .

 

Thankfully for millions on New Yorkers  Andrew Cuomo set him straight  just a few hours later .

[SnoSki14]

I think Bloomberg just assumed it was going to be another Irene, which is what as lot of people assumed. Most people didn't really understand the whole phase complexity so they weren't terribly worried. Many people were shocked that the storm lived up to and even exceeded the hype.

 

For myself, I saw boats and docks flipped over, many trees down, shingles. The main impacts were loss of power for about a week and the gas lines, which made it seem like we were in the midst of some kind of war, it felt so surreal. I know others who lost cars, homes, and other property so my community was fortunate but others clearly were not.

[jm1220]

I think Bloomberg just assumed it was going to be another Irene, which is what as lot of people assumed. Most people didn't really understand the whole phase complexity so they weren't terribly worried. Many people were shocked that the storm lived up to and even exceeded the hype.

 

For myself, I saw boats and docks flipped over, many trees down, shingles. The main impacts were loss of power for about a week and the gas lines, which made it seem like we were in the midst of some kind of war, it felt so surreal. I know others who lost cars, homes, and other property so my community was fortunate but others clearly were not.

It is a miracle that no one from Long Beach died, given how ill prepared most people were here and how few evacuated (it may have actually been a blessing in a way, since next door neighbors were often home who had higher-up homes that people in basements or on street level could reach). In the aftermath of the storm, given the severity of the damage and amount of flooding, I was pretty much certain there would be a substantial death toll. As bad as the death toll around NYC was, I feel it could and probably should have been much higher. A lot of people were lulled into a false sense of security after Irene was largely a dud (although Irene did flood my street, knock trees down and leave my neighborhood with no power for nearly a week).

[Wannabehippie]

We had no work for 3 days due to subways being out, power issues. 

 

I went out after the storm passed and so many large old trees were knocked down. A number of cars crushed under them.  I actually helped move a very large limb out of the way that was blocking an ambulance from proceeding down the street. 

Bunch of us Astorians getting together to help out. 

[MJO812]

Pictures from Sandy

When it started appearing on the map and stayed there for a few days and saw the ingredients in place, you knew it would be devastating for the people it would hit hardest. Imagine the Perfect Storm making landfall in 1991 and then essentially double its intensity (Sandy was low 940s, Perfect Storm 1991 was low 970s). It looked for a couple of days like the storm might stay out at sea longer and hit New England harder, but I remember the scared feeling I had when the storm turned west that morning and knew that the Tri-State area was in for the worst impacts. The aftermath and impacts also were worse than anticipated, even with the "Frankenstorm" declarations and such, due to striking at high tide. In my town the storm tide reached almost 11 feet (surge was near 8 feet).

I had an eery feeling when I woke up that Monday morning and I saw the storm down to 941 mb.

[jm1220]

Pictures from Sandy

I had an eery feeling when I woke up that Monday morning and I saw the storm down to 941 mb.

Sandy really was the only storm that ever frightened me. Irene was a concern but not really frightening, due to the fact it was being consumed by dry air and weakening as it approached. One of the moments I'll never forget is when I saw the N movement turn NW and the feeling in the pit of my stomach from knowing "this is really happening". And the continued pressure falls and regeneration of convection around the center was also a major concern. You see pictures and videos on TV of storms like Katrina and think it can't happen to you, well, that belief was certainly put to rest.

[MJO812]

Irene didnt do anything in my area. The winds weren't strong at all. CVS was the only store open that monday morning. The store was packed.I was talking to alot of people that morning and they thought the storm was going to be a miss and was not taking the threat seriously because of what Irene did and what Bloomberg said.I have never seen my area getting flooded like that. It was an insane sight that I will never forget.

[IsentropicLift]

Irene didnt do anything in my area. The winds weren't strong at all. CVS was the only store open that monday morning. The store was packed.I was talking to alot of people that morning and they thought the storm was going to be a miss and was not taking the threat seriously because of what Irene did and what Bloomberg said.I have never seen my area getting flooded like that. It was an insane sight that I will never forget.

Irene hit the flood plains of New Jersey the hardest. It put every river in the area into major flood stage for an extended period of time, and in many areas, set new records.

 

 

[MJO812]

I had a lot of rain with Irene but the winds were not strong in my area.

[IsentropicLift]

I had a lot of rain with Irene but the winds were not strong in my area.

I don't think the storms were strong with Irene anywhere in this region, the heavy rain and flooding were the main problems.

[jm1220]

Irene didnt do anything in my area. The winds weren't strong at all. CVS was the only store open that monday morning. The store was packed.I was talking to alot of people that morning and they thought the storm was going to be a miss and was not taking the threat seriously because of what Irene did and what Bloomberg said.I have never seen my area getting flooded like that. It was an insane sight that I will never forget.

We had gusts to maybe 65 mph or so, and much of Long Beach flooded but only for maybe an hour at high tide and at worst 1.5-3 feet in the lower lying places. A lot of basements flooded but not first floors like with Sandy. My street was underwater with Sandy from about 6:30PM until well after midnight, and at deepest was up to about the roofs of cars if not even a little higher. Cars were literally thrown around everywhere by the surge. Keep in mind the deepest I have ever seen water in my town was maybe a foot and a half deep, with Irene, and my street flooded halfway up the block only with that.

[bluewave]

We had gusts to maybe 65 mph or so, and much of Long Beach flooded but only for maybe an hour at high tide and at worst 1.5-3 feet in the lower lying places. A lot of basements flooded but not first floors like with Sandy. My street was underwater with Sandy from about 6:30PM until well after midnight, and at deepest was up to about the roofs of cars if not even a little higher. Cars were literally thrown around everywhere by the surge. Keep in mind the deepest I have ever seen water in my town was maybe a foot and a half deep, with Irene, and my street flooded halfway up the block only with that.

 

The peak tide level with Irene was similar for us to Donna, Gloria, and the the 1992 Nor'easter. The new tide gauges that were 

recently installed showed that Sandy was 3 to 3.5 feet higher than the previous benchmark flood level. The surge models did a 

good job in the days before Sandy showing that this was going to be a record breaking event by at least several feet. When we

saw Sandy strengthen later Sunday into early Monday, the surge models increased the water levels. Days in advance, I told

people that I knew to get their cars out of town or park them up on the hill  behind the bus depot in Lido. My friends down

in the President Streets closest to Broadway were in the highest part of Long Beach and did the best. The flooding there

was only about 8 inches above the sidewalk level. All the houses on a foundation block didn't get any water on the ground floor.

But the older houses with a step down first flood and down sloping driveway suffered significant first floor water damage.

 

 

This was a picture that I took of one of the President Streets houses that was built high enough up

to only have the water level make it to the first step.

 

 

 

A poorly designed condo development just across the street on the South side of Broadway.

 

[earthlight]

Here's an article we just published regarding the deepening of Sandy prior to landfall

 

http://www.nymetroweather.com/2013/10/24/hurricane-sandy-pressure/

[jm1220]

Here's an article we just published regarding the deepening of Sandy prior to landfall

 

http://www.nymetroweather.com/2013/10/24/hurricane-sandy-pressure/

Very nice article, and explains well for the lay-person how the storm strengthened the way it did. By far the most difficult aspect of the storm for people to understand was how a hurricane can "strengthen" over cooler water and as it is directly approaching us. A lot of people just wrote this off as "another Irene" due to the calendar date and the idea that "Sandy will become a Nor'easter as it approaches". What sort-of got people's attention was the Perfect Storm analogy, but again it's hard for people to understand in tangible ways, and Sandy was much worse than even that. I'm glad to see the NHS re-defined how it delivers warnings in response to the processes in Sandy.

[forkyfork]

sandy got a boost from radial baroclinicity before landfall as the warm seclusion developed 

[jm1220]

The peak tide level with Irene was similar for us to Donna, Gloria, and the the 1992 Nor'easter. The new tide gauges that were 

recently installed showed that Sandy was 3 to 3.5 feet higher than the previous benchmark flood level. The surge models did a 

good job in the days before Sandy showing that this was going to be a record breaking event by at least several feet. When we

saw Sandy strengthen later Sunday into early Monday, the surge models increased the water levels. Days in advance, I told

people that I knew to get their cars out of town or park them up on the hill  behind the bus depot in Lido. My friends down

in the President Streets closest to Broadway were in the highest part of Long Beach and did the best. The flooding there

was only about 8 inches above the sidewalk level. All the houses on a foundation block didn't get any water on the ground floor.

But the older houses with a step down first flood and down sloping driveway suffered significant first floor water damage.

 

Screen shot 2013-10-24 at 1.46.25 PM.png

 

This was a picture that I took of one of the President Streets houses that was built high enough up

to only have the water level make it to the first step.

 

Sandy1-2.jpg

 

 

A poorly designed condo development just across the street on the South side of Broadway.

 

sandy10-3.jpg

Wow, over 3 feet higher than even Donna? I heard stories from some of the old-timers that Donna was a bad one for us. We were very lucky that Gloria hit during low tide and had correspondingly low water levels. I'd say three and a half feet higher than Irene sounds about right. I wonder if even 1938 had such high water levels for Long Beach, since we were on the west side of that one. If not that one, you might have to go back to 1821 for a comparable local surge event. That hurricane carved out the channel between Atlantic Beach and the Rockaways.

[doncat]

Had 8 inches of rain here from Irene on the way to an amazing 21.53 inches for the month.

[forkyfork]

sandy got a boost from radial baroclinicity before landfall as the warm seclusion developed 

 

notice the cold air encircling the warm core right before landfall.  it was like squeezing the last bit of ketchup out of the bottle (to borrow from a presentation i've seen on the subject)

[Snow_Miser]

I will never forget that storm. I remember so many people were crying bust over this storm when the winds had not really picked up too much inland. However, when the stronger winds aloft were mixed down towards the evening, all hell broke loose. I have never heard winds like that in my life. That went from exciting to terrifying very quickly. I was fortunate and only lost power for about a day. Some people in my town lost it for a week and longer though. Then, to add insult to injury, the NYC area saw a SECS about 10 days later. 

[Snow_Miser]

This was by the Barnegat Dock last November. The dock master's small cabin was completely gone.  

 

This used to be a boardwalk:

 

 

 

This was also a pretty common sight IMBY. 

 

 

By the Barnegat Bay.. houses were completely destroyed.

 

 

Uprooted trees sometimes landed on houses IMBY.

 

[threeyoda]

Some amazing collections of pictures I had bookmarked almost a year ago, from The Atlantic's In Focus blog...

 

Sandy In Photos - http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-in-photos/100395/

 

Hurricane Sandy: After Landfall - http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-after-landfall/100396/

 

Hurricane Sandy: The Aftermath - http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/11/hurricane-sandy-the-aftermath/100397/

 

Hurricane Sandy: The Long Recovery - http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/11/hurricane-sandy-the-long-recovery/100405/

[ADKweather27]

For me the surge is what made this storm historic. The winds while impressive were not more than a weak cat one, while the surge was on par with a cat 3. In the known history of my town the water levels observed were historic. We had about a 10 foot surge off Jamaica Bay.

[96blizz]

Was 5 days into my new house up here in NW NJ and had $50K worth of damage, 9 trees down, 2 on my house and a crushed and totaled car. 

 

All of that "fixable stuff" aside (and I'm happy to say it is all fixed), the night of Sandy was the ONLY time the weather truly frightened me.  My son was 1 at the time and I will NEVER forget being huddled together with him, my wife and trying to be calm while the wind ripped, trees fell down all around me and transformers blew --- in a strange new house and place.

 

Yup.  The ONLY time I was truly frightened by the weather.  If there is EVER a forecast near that magnitude again, I'll be far away despite my love of the weather...

[jm1220]

For me the surge is what made this storm historic. The winds while impressive were not more than a weak cat one, while the surge was on par with a cat 3. In the known history of my town the water levels observed were historic. We had about a 10 foot surge off Jamaica Bay.

I don't think the surge was as high as cat 3 would be for this area. The surge for a cat 3 for my area for example would be upwards of 15 feet (cat 4 would be over 20 feet!!), while Sandy's was about 8 feet. So I think the actual surge level was what a high-end cat 1 would be for this area. The storm tide added to the water level by a few feet because of it being near high tide, so the total water level was near 11 feet. The surge at Battery Park was about 9 feet I think, but because of the high tide the total water level was close to 14 feet. People confuse storm surge and storm tide a lot, and forget how incredibly vulnerable the tri-state area is to a surge, because of the funneling effect of Long Island and the Jersey shore.