Looking at the latest discussion for Hurricane Sandy and the US forecast maps, if you live from the Chesapeake Bay up to the Gulf of St Lawrence you might want to have three days of non-perishable food and some emergency lighting available for the coming week.

There is a Nor’easter sitting over Lake Superior that is extending a trough to the East Coast that is probably going to attract Sandy and pull the storm to the coast, rather than heading out to the Atlantic after beating up on the Bahamas. If this happens the results are called ‘Perfect Storms’ and are effectively icy cold hurricanes with very large wind fields. As this is happening when tides along the coast are at their highest point for the month, the surge will be higher than normal.

You can expect power outages, rain, sleet, snow, gusty high winds, and generally miserable conditions. Sandy will feed a lot of moisture into the mess, so flooding will certainly be an issue.

Nothing is set in concrete yet, but it doesn’t look good for the East Coast next week, and Sandy’s wind field is about to expand after its rapid intensification yesterday. Start watching the weather, and prepare for the possibility.

Position: 31.2N 34.0W [ 4PM CDT 2100 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [075°] near 22 mph [35 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 40 mph [ 65 kph].
Wind Gusts: 55 mph [ 90 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 105 miles [165 km].
Minimum central pressure: 1001 mb ↑.

Currently about 615 miles [ 990 km] Southwest of the Azores.

Tony has lost its tropical characteristics, so this is the final NHC advisory.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

Position: 25.3N 76.1W [10PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: North-Northwest [335°] near 13 mph [20 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 90 mph [150 kph].
Wind Gusts: 105 mph [170 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 230 miles [370 km].
Hurricane Wind Radius: 35 miles [ 55 km].
Minimum central pressure: 968 mb ↑.

Currently about 185 miles [ 300 km] East-Southeast of Freeport, Grand Bahama Island.

A Hurricane Warning is in effect for the Northwestern Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for the East Coast of Florida from Flagler Beach to Ocean Reef and the Central Bahamas.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for the Florida East Coast from Flagler Beach to Fernandina Beach, the Keys from Ocean Reef to Craig Key, and Florida Bay.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]