Hurricane Sandy

[HU&W]

Although I know this storm's been mentioned in the Election thread for potential impacts there, it looks like it may have other impacts. Numerous states and the District of Columbia have already declared emergencies in advance of the storm, and many places are expecting long power outages, flooding, and even blizzard conditions. Here's a pretty good graphic that succinctly describes why this storm is bad.

[Bullet]

It's a SnorEasterCane! Quick, everyone run to the Piggly Wiggly and beat up old ladies for the last gallon of milk and seventy rolls of toilet paper. And don't forget to watch every freakin station send out its youngest and stupidiest weather guy/girl to the local beach in a poncho to report on the wind conditions and rain.

[Royal]

If it hits land, make sure ClearedHot posts the link of the storm chaser that talks like Spicoli.

[TacAirCoug]

Lucky me. I'm dead center of the bullseye in Wilmington, DE. I'm ready for wind, rain, snow, whatever. But dammit, if I miss one second of my Giants in the World Series because the power goes out, so help me I'm going to....probably do nothing, but I will be very very agitated.

[Vertigo]

Am I the only one that adds "vagina" to the end of Hurricane Sandy in their head?

[Danny Noonin]

Head? Who said head?

[Spoo]

Am I the only one that adds "vagina" to the end of Hurricane Sandy in their head?

No, you are not. I also find it funny that the Weather Channel uses the hashtag "#sandy".

Edited for "punctuation".

Edited October 28, 2012 by Spoo

[HercDude]

Is it just me or is the media blowing this one way out of proportion? I get that it's going to make landfall in urban areas that aren't used to hurricanes, but it's a Cat I with winds at 85 knots. The Gulf Coast gets one of these every year, sometimes several. A friend of mine who lives in Baltimore posted on Facebook that this was "The Storm of the Century."

But I'm deployed, so I don't get an update every 6-9 minutes on TV . . . .what am I missing?

[Vertigo]

I just watched Ghostbusters with the kids this weekend, so this is relevant.

Ghostbusters is always relevant.

[TacAirCoug]

Ghostbusters is always relevant.

Fact.

All I know is, It's raining like hell outside my hotel right now. It may or may not be the storm of the century, but it sure as hell is the storm of NOW.

[Kilgore Trout]

Is it just me or is the media blowing this one way out of proportion? I get that it's going to make landfall in urban areas that aren't used to hurricanes, but it's a Cat I with winds at 85 knots. The Gulf Coast gets one of these every year, sometimes several. A friend of mine who lives in Baltimore posted on Facebook that this was "The Storm of the Century."

But I'm deployed, so I don't get an update every 6-9 minutes on TV . . . .what am I missing?

From what I've picked up, they're most worried about the flooding in urban areas. They've shut down subways and evacuated lower lying areas of cities because it's supposed to get on shore and then just sit and dump a foot+ of rain in some areas. It's got a cold front running in on it too that they're afraid is going to cause massive power outages due to ice storms and sleet across the northeast. It's not so much that it's going to blow everything over, it's more of the size of the storm, amount of rain, and confluence of cold front/high pressure from the northeast to keep it in place.

[ExBoneOSO]

Just saw this pic on Twitter.. to the Old Guard

[DEVIL]

Is it just me or is the media blowing this one way out of proportion? I get that it's going to make landfall in urban areas that aren't used to hurricanes, but it's a Cat I with winds at 85 knots. The Gulf Coast gets one of these every year, sometimes several. A friend of mine who lives in Baltimore posted on Facebook that this was "The Storm of the Century."

But I'm deployed, so I don't get an update every 6-9 minutes on TV . . . .what am I missing?

It's a mix of that storm, the cold front mentioned above, and one of the major scary factors is the full moon, before it ever started raining many of the urban areas were already flooded from the high tide and surge that is preceding the actual storm. Who knows how high it'll get once it starts pouring.

[SocialD]

The news just showed people stranded at airports. Standing by for them to blame the govt or the airline for this...

[DEVIL]

https://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=weather&id=8860157

Crane dangling from construction site in Manhattan...

I doubt that's going to survive the storm, apparently the FDNY is on scene trying to figure out what to do with it

[Techsan]

I'm stuck waiting to catch a flight back to DC, but I'm in sunny Savannah. And I'm downtown. And I'm drinking copious amounts of alcohol, while eating some Vinnie Van Go Go's pizza!

[Toro]

Just saw this pic on Twitter.. to the Old Guard

That's a fantastic picture, and it is real, but it wasn't taken during Sandy, it was taken in September. Here are some photos taken today - not as impressive as the previous, but hats off to those guys nonetheless.

[Prosuper]

Expecting a 11+ foot storm surge in NYC, just looked up elevations for JFK 14ft and LGA 21 ft, that can't be good since both are near the water.

[snoopyeast]

Looking forward to a Kanye West TV appearance again.

[Jughead]

But I'm deployed, so I don't get an update every 6-9 minutes on TV . . . .what am I missing?

What the others have said. Also: if you consider the area in question--and take only those areas officially declared disasters--you're talking about roughly 1/4 the country's total population. Even if the storm isn't the worst on record in absolute terms, the sheer number of people directly affected by it make it newsworthy.

That said, blowing things out of proportion is hardly a new tactic by the news media....

ETA: Also, w/ damage projections up to $20B (again, because of where it's landing), going just by the wind speed is the wrong yardstick....

Edited October 30, 2012 by Jughead

[ATIS]

Wind picking up here on Capitol Hill DC. Been raining/windy but nothing super bad all day, next 3-5 hours should be interesting with landfall of Sandy up there in NJ.

Been working in the basement hobby room all day when I heard a big crash around 1600hrs local... tree turned a 4 door hatchback Subaru into a 2 door mini. No idea where the owner is, so I zip-tied a large tarp on the crushed back half of his/her car...and then back to the hobby hideout.

Cheers

Collin

Edited October 29, 2012 by ATIS

[Prozac]

Looking forward to a Kanye West TV appearance again.

Ha! "President Obama doesn't care about....oh....wait.....nevermind".

[nsplayr]

I mean...he is 1/2 white, so maybe he only gives 1/2 a sh*t...

[spaceman]

We are getting some crazy weather even way out here in WI. I heard on the news we had 54mph winds this morning and 20+ foot waves on Lake Michigan! I am waiting to see the pictures of goofballs in drysuits surfing in Milwaukee.

[Masshole]

Everything is returning to normal in DC. It was not nearly as bad as the media made it out to be. At least not here.